Room of Requirements
by MutantNinjaMikey
Summary: It is Harry's fifth year at Hogwarts, someone wants to set the record straight about Harry's so called lies and hopefully save the Wizard world before it starts. Harry and his friends, including Draco and Blaise, joined people from the past, present and future to set things right. What could possibly go wrong?
1. Chapter 1 letters from No where

Place: The ROR

People:

Neville Longbottom {Cheetah/Flash}

Alice Prewett

Frank Longbottom

Harry Potter {Pheonix/Ashes}

Hermione Granger {Fox/Redtail}

Lily Evans

James Potter

Remus Lupin (Moony)

Sirius Black (Padfoot)

Remus Lupin (Professor)

Sirius Black (Siri)

Draco Malfoy {Ferret}

Narcissa Malfoy

Severus Snape (Sev)

Regulus Black

Severus Snape (Professor)

Blaize Zambini {Werewolve/Lycos}

Luna Lovegood {Hare/Hops}

Nymphadora Tonks

Amelia Bones

Alastor Moody

Albus Dumbledore

Minerva McGonagel

Amelia Bones

Arthur Weasley

Bill Weasley

Percy Weasley

Charlie Weasley

Fred Weasley (Gred)

George Weasley (Forge)

Gideon Prewett

Fabian Prewett

Alex James Weasley (Charlie's Twin/Peg{usus})

Loki Avian Malfoy (Draco's Uncle/Griff{Lion})

Jasper Sirius Black (Sirius' Nephew/Werewolf/Tig{ger})

Raven Dora Potter (Jame's sister/Icies{wolf})

**Chapter 1: Letters from nowwhere**

Harry, Hermione, Neville and Luna were all sitting in the library trying to stay out of Umbridge's way. Ron had gotten detention for pulling his wand out of his pocket, he wasn't going to use it, it had just been bugging him. They sat there going threw books about protection spells, they all looked up to Draco Malfoy and Blaise Zambini. Draco and Blaise had claimed down some this last year and apoligied to the group, they all became closer except Ron who thought they were planning something. Draco smiled at them as they sat down and Harry nodded. Suddenly a letter appeared on the table, they all looked to each other before Hermione reached out and grabbed it. She bent forward to whisper it.

_**Dear Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Neville Longbottom, Luna Lovegood, Draco Malfoy and Blaize Zambini**_

_** We know that this seems rather odd and with the lives that you live you are very careful but you must trust and believe that what this letter says is true. You are in danger yet again, yes I know being freinds with Potter this is nothing new but this danger comes from two who are very close to you (they are not near you now). You must go to the Room of Requirements, do not tell anyone of this letter. Don't worry others will be there waiting for you, they all need to be there (forgives us, some of them or not wanted). Just join them and Luna if you would be a dear and wish for a place to be comfortable, relaxing and time kept we would be forever greatful. To give you a warning Albus Dumbledore, Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy, Sirius Black (as Snuffles, Remus Lupin, Nymphadora Tonks, Fred and Goerge Weasley, Molly and Arthur Weasley, Bill, Charlie and Percy Weasley, Alastor Moody, Severus Snape, Cornelius Fudge, The Toad (Dolorus Umbridge), Minerva McGonagel and Amelia Bones will be the ones joining you from your time.**_

_**Please hurry, once inside another letter will appear. See you soon.**_

_**Always there, R. L. J. A.**_

They all looked to each other, nodded and packed up their things. Slowly they made their way to the seventh floor, when they got there they saw everyone standing in the hall waiting for them. Most where glaring at each other but when they spotted then they stood up and turned to them. Harry nodded to Luna, who closed her eyes and began to pace, then he turned to everyone. "So you all got letters too?"

"Don't pretend boy, you sent those letters. Whatever your up to, it wont do you any good" Umbridge glared. Remus growled at her and she jumped.

"The letter were signed R. L. J. A., Dolorus. Harry's name starts with a H, incase you forgot." Remus spat, Harry couldn't be sure but he thought he saw Snape smirk.

"Harry." Luna whispered, they all turned to see the door to the Room of Requirements. Draco was holding it open. They all walked in, the room was filled with chairs, couches, pillows and blankets. Everyone sat down, each in their own group, when Draco sat next to Hermione, Lucius glared at him and Draco just smirked. They sat their for a moment before Luna spoke. "Harry, a letter."

A letter fell from the ceiling, Draco grabed it this time. opening it slowly he began to read.

_**Hello everyone.**_

_**We have asked you here because we have tried everything else but this is the only option left. Now there will be things in this room that most of you will not want to hear, some that you do not wish others to hear but this isn't about you anymore. This is about the future of the Wizarding world. Now if all of you will check, your wands are no longer with you. The room has taken them away because it is necissary. Now shortly others will be jioning you, they are not from your time. They are from the past. They have recieved letter as well explaining what is happening, they know they are coming to the future and they know that some of them are dead. When they arrived, you will have time to say hi and talk about things that need to be said. Once everyone is settled, we can begin. Now I must add that when they arrive that Dolorus, Fudge and Lucius will not be allowed to talk so everyone feel free to say whatever you wish because they will also not be able to hear. **_

_**Always There, R. L. J. A.**_

Once the letter was read there was a loud bang and there in a small group in the middle of the room was Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, James Potter, Lily Evans, Severus Snape, Gideon and Fabian Prewett, Regulus Black, Frank Longbottom and Alice Prewett. They stood there smiling at everyone, Neville and Harry stood up walked to their parents and stared. James confused pointed to the older Remus. "Moony what is going and who is everyone that we don't know?"

Remus slowly but shakingly stood up, "James, Lily and Alice, Frank. The boys standing in front of you are your sons. Harry James Potter and Neville Longbottom. This is the fisrt time Harry has seen you since you both died when he was one." Lily began to cry and hugged Harry to her as James stood frozen. "Alice, Frank you were both torture into insanity by Bellatrix, so he has seen you but you don't remember him." Alice gasped and clung to Neville as Frank hugged them both. "And as for everyone else this is Hermione Granger, Luna Lovegood, Blaize Zambini and Draco Malfoy. Harry and Neville's very close friends." He pointed to each of them. "Then Fred and Goerge Weasley, the future Marauders and prankster along with their older brothers Bill, Charlie and Percy. I think that is everyone you guys don't know. As for what is happening, all we know is that we are here to change the future so please sit down. Oh one more thing, Harry lives with Petunia because Sirius went after Peter, who betrayed you and handed you over to Voldermort to die." Amelia and everyone from the past gasped in shock. Young Sirius started to shake in anger. Lily cried harder. "Sirius is on the run because Peter framed him and the world believes he is a murderer." James quickly looked over at Sirius in his dog form, who held his head down and whined. "Harry figured out the truth the same year Sirius broke out of Azkaban, Peter was pretending to be a normal rat, the Weasley's rat." The Weasley boys growled as Molly shook her head in saddness. "Fudge and Umbrdge here believe that Harry is lying about Voldermort coming back last year, so they make him out to be a lier but I have a feeling that that is something that will change today."

Everyone sat down and began to relax, suddenly Umbridge stood up and pointed at the young Sirius, "You are a murderer. You will be arrested and taking to Azkaban." Before she could reach him, Harry stood in front of him and growled.

"Touch my godfather and I will kill you myself Toad." Hermione, Neville, Luna, Blaize and Draco stood beside him. "You have no athority in this room. Sit down before we make you."

Umbridge opened her mouth but Hermione got there first. "Harry said sit down Toad! Now do it before I show everyone what you do to muggle born students for punishment!" She was so angry that her eyes had turned slightly yellow as they had bagun to do after the Polyjuice potion accident in second year. Umbridge glared at her but sat down, the teens looked at each other then nodded. Draco walked over, grabed pillows and blankets and they all sat down in front of the younger Sirius Black, who was still sitting there shocked.

Remus smiled, "Relax Padfoot, they all care about you. You will be fine." As soon as he said this a bright white light filled the room, when it was gone there before them stood four young teens that none of them knew. All the adults moved to stand up as the teens tensed up, Snuffles started growling.


	2. Chapter 2 Unknown Visitors

**Chapter 2: Unknown Visitors  
**

The young man on the far left had bright blue hair, brown eyes and a crooked smile, the young man next to him had green hair that set off his black eyes. The man on the far right had jet black hair with bright green eyes while the girl beside him had purple hair that brought out her silver eyes. The teens held up their hands, the young girl stepped forward. She slowly pulled out four vials that she handed to the older Severus. He looked at them, smelt them and smiled as he handed them back. "They are veritiserum."

Everyone watched as the teens smiled and drank the potions. After a moment, Hermione stepped forward. "Who are you? Did you send the notes?"

The young man with blue hair smirked and stepped forward. "Yes, Hermione. We sent the letters. I am Alex, this is Loki, Raven and Jasper." he pointed to each of them, so people knew their names. "We are from a future not so far from here. We are already born in this time but we were taking from our parents and hidden. Their memories of us were taken and some of our mother were killed. Please don't ask who they are yet, we will tell you but not yet. Now we must fix somethings before we can start on the real problems. So Marauders past and present, Harry, Mia, Dray, Luna, Nev, Dumbledore, Moody, Longbottoms, Weasley and Aunt Minni relax. We will be with you in a moment. Severus, young and old, just a warning. Ray, right there, she is about to upset your whole world." He smirked as he turned to the Malfoys, Fudge and Umbridge. "Now for you four, Malfoy's stay put, first we handle them and Miss Bones please feel free to relax with the other or to join us."

Amelia smiled but stayed in her spot, Alex nodded then turned to Loki. Loki stepped forward. "We are going to show you four memories but first we must make this clear to you. We are here to save our families, who have been destroyed and who are still heading for destruction. We do not care if we upset you, except for you Amelia. We must bring the truth to light and you will listen to us, you no longer have a choice. Do you understand me, Fudge?"

Fudge nodded, "Yes."

"Good." spat Jasper, in a growl. "Just so we are clear and you understand. When we are done, you WILL be making a PUBLIC apology to Harry Potter and Dumbledore and some others along the way."

Loki touched his arm and Jasper nodded and turned back to stand beside Raven, who was smirking and shaking her head. Loki laughed as he turned to Fudge, "Forgive Jasper, he is really upset with you and the man we are about to show you." Loki closed his eyes and a small silver bowl appears beside him, "You know what this is right Fudge?" Fudge nods, "Good, we are going to use it but to show that I am not tampering with it, would you like Moody and Remus to look it over?"

Fudge looked from Loki to the bowl and nodded, Loki stepped back and waited for Remus and Moody to test it from spells. When Moody nodded to Fudge, he nodded and gulped. "Now what are you showing me?"

"Not just you." Raven's voice came out in a giggle, causing all the guys to look at her. Jasper glared at Sirius for a moment before shaking his head. Raven laughed and placed her hand on Jasper's chest. "Calm down Tig. He is fine, he is just a big flirt, aren't you Padfoot?" Sirius smirked and nodded. Jasper relaxed a little. "Now Fudge as I was saying, it will not just be you going into the memories. The Toad will be going too," she pointed to Umbridge, "and of course Amelia if she wishes."

Amelia nodded as she stood and stepped up to the bowl, "I think I need to see what you have to show me. It has already been told that what I believe is wrong, now I need to see it." Raven smiles and nods.

"I have seen these memories, They upset Jasper, Alex and I to a bad point so only Loki will be with you. Please, watch carefully and when you return be prepared to eat your words." Raven spoke softly but everyone heard the rage behind it.

Fudge, Umbridge, Amelia and Loki looked into the bowl being dragged inside to see the memories of the past. _The first memory was in a dark room, there before them stood Peter Pettigrew. he was kneeling down. "My Lord, you were right. The Potters have doubted you once again. They have made me their secret keeper in fear that you would go after Black, my Lord."_

_ A man wearing a dark robe stepped forward, revealing the face of Voldemort. "Good job, my faithful servant. Where are they hiding? I must rid this world of their child and tonight will be the night. Then I will be free to rule that wizarding world, no one will stop me."_

_ "They are at Godric Hollow, my lord. I can show you." Peter looked up at him with a smirk on his face._

"It was Peter, why?" Amelia cried as she held onto Loki. Fudge looked sick while Umbridge looked mad.

_ The memory changed to inside the Potter house on Halloween. James stood in front of Voldemort, protecting Lily and his son in the other room. Voldemort killed him, then went after the boy. Once he opened the door, Lily stood in front of Harry. "No please, don't hurt my son."_

_ "Out of my way girl. There is no need for you to die. Leave and start over, don't look back but the boy will die tonight." Voldemort stated. Lily didn't move, Voldemort killed her and turned to Harry, "She didn't have to die for you. Love, such a stupid feeling." He raised his wand at Harry, spoke the words and began to laugh but suddenly the green flash reflected back and hit him, then he was gone._

_ The memory changed again, Sirius was standing across from Peter, "How could you do this Peter, we loved you?"_

_ Peter laughed, "No, You just let me hang around but now I am stronger and you will pay for ignoring me." He took a deep breath, cut off his finger and screamed out loud. "How could you betray James and Lily? You were their friend, they trusted you." Then he blew up the street before turning into a rat._

_ Suddenly Sirius was surrounded by Aurors, he began to laugh. "That stupid rat will pay for this."_

_ Then the memory shifted for the last time, it was in a graveyard. Harry was trapped by a statue on a grave, Cedric was dead on the ground and Peter was dumping something into a pot. Peter took a bone, from the grave of Voldemort's father, cut off his hand and cut Harry to get his blood. All of it went into the pot, suddenly the pot was gone and there stood Voldemort. Soon the graveyard was filled with some of his followers, they were unmasked. Lucius Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle and many others. Voldemort tried to kill Harry but Ghosts of his parents, Cedric, and two others helped save him and he returned to Hogwarts._

Suddenly they were pulled out of the silver bowl, Fudge fell to his knees. Amelia began to cry and Loki held her up, he walked her over to Remus, who held her. "Sh, it is okay Amelia. It is okay. We can fix it."

Fudge turned to Harry, "Forgive me. You told me that he was back but my fear kept me from believing you. My pride kept me from believing that Sirius was innocent too, I need to find him, apologies to him too. He is a free man."

"I am right here Fudge." the older Sirius stepped forward. He smiled at Fudge and shook his hand. "Just let the world know and I will call it even." Fudge nodded but before anyone could say anything else Umbridge screamed causing Remus, Sirius, James and the future teens to flinch.

"Those aren't real, they are lies. Potter and Dumbledore made they up, they are trying to raise an army. They want to over throw the Ministry."

Raven stepped forward and growled so loud that the room shook. "Shut up and sit down because your death is still up for debate. Besides if Dumbledore wanted to over throw the Ministry. He wouldn't need to build an army, everyone would help him because they know that if he is doing it then it is for the right reasons." Then Raven turned to Fudge, "I have another memory to show you but this one is for everyone so let's watch through a seeing screen shall we. Now this one is from the near future." She placed the memory in the silver bowl and a picture appeared on a screen above it. _It was Dolorus and Bellatrix, they were laughing while pointing their wands at Hermione and Neville. Bellatrix was crucioing Neville, "When I am done with you boy you will be just like your parents."_

_ Umbridge was using it on Hermione screaming, "I can't wait to do this to all the filthy Mudbloods and Half Breeds in this world. Abomination like you shouldn't be allowed to infect our world."_

The room was silent of a second before Remus roared and slammed Umbridge against the wall. "I could kill you, you know that. Hermione is more a witch then you will ever be."

Fudge cleared his throat, "Remus, please. I promise you she will be fired and locked away for what ever she has done but I need you to relax and let her go." Remus looked at him, sighed and let her drop to the floor before he turned and walked over to Hermione who was crying in older Sirius' arms.

"Sh, Mia. We wont let anyone hurt you. Okay, you belong with us. You are family, little one." Remus spoke softly, Hermione looked up at him, smiled and hugged him.

Sirius smiled, "That's it Kitten. We love your smile now keep that."

They whole room turned around when Umbridge screamed "Filthy Lying Half Breed." She jumped at Raven, who laughed as she grabbed Umbridge by her throat and slammed her to the floor.

Raven smirked and spoke very clearly, "I am not a half breed. Compared to us, you are the filthy one but don't mistake our blood for who we are. We four are true Hogwarts students, true each to his own house and we will not let it be destroyed because of your stupid jealousy. Now stay still Toad or it will be the end of you." She turned to Fudge. "Now the rest we have to discuss you are not needed for, however we would like Miss Bones to remain with us."

Fudge nodded, he tied Umbridge up, he dragged her out of the room and they disappeared down the hall. Loki turned to the Malfoys. "Narcissa Malfoy, we know that your views are not that of your husbands. We are offering you one shot here, do you understand?"


	3. Chapter 3 Needed

_**Hello my little Darlings! I know this should have gone on in the first chapter but I forgot... So here you. I DO NOT own any of this... But I do own Raven, Alex, Jasper and Loki. Hope you enjoy and please let me know**_

* * *

**Chapter 3 Necessary  
**

Narcissa nodded, Alex held out his hand for her, she walked to him and he handed her to Draco. Jasper turned to Lucius, "The Minister has already seen where your loyalty lies, we are going to see how strong your faith in your master is." He smirked as Raven walked up to him and sat down beside him. "Now the rules are simple, do not lie! Raven there can tell if you are. So we ask a question or make a statement and you will answer us or there will be a punishment. Are we in anyway unclear, Lucius?"

Lucius shook his head, Raven bent her lips to his ear and whispered, he eyes got wide and he shuddered. "Y... you are n... not un... clear."

Jasper nodded, "Good. Now first where is Peter?"

Lucius glared at Jasper, Raven giggled and moved closer to Lucius, who jumped. "My Manor, he stays there, in hiding."

"Good boy, that was an easy one." Loki commented, "Where is Bellatrix?"

Lucius glared at him and shook his head, Raven giggled again and tilted her head, he gulped but kept his mouth shut. Alex sighed, "Ice, apparently we were unclear, fix that for us, will you?"

Raven nodded, bent forward and bit Lucius, causing him to bleed. He cried out, "She is the old Riddle house with the dark lord, please make her stop."

"Ice!" Jasper snapped and Raven backed off, wiped her lips and smiled sweetly. "Since you answered our third question without us asking, we will give you a moment to recover. Don't move or it will be worse. Come Ice."

Raven got up, walked to the boy and buried her face in Jasper's arm. Everyone heard her tears, Jasper held her to him, "Shh, Ice pop. It will be okay. It will be over soon and then you will never have to do this again."

Raven lifted her head, looked into his eyes and nodded. She laid her head on his shoulder looking at everyone. They could see the tears in her eyes. Harry was shifted on his feet, trying to keep calm but Raven saw it. "Harry, what is wrong?"

"Why are Ron and Ginny not here?" he demanded, the four froze and looked from each other back to Harry. "Ron is my best friend and Ginny she means something to me."

"Really?" Raven asked. "You were fine before without them now you are jittery and nervous. Do you see the problem there, you as well Hermione?" They both looked confused.

Loki sighed, "Don't you think it is a little weird that only after Fred and George tell Ron that you are Harry Potter that he decides to talk to you? Don't you remember the look of disgust on his face the first time he saw you and the amount of hatred he had for Hermione? Or how about him always starting the problems with Draco? And Ginny? Come on Harry, she was a fan girl since she could write. She tried to stay as far away from you as possible until you saved her. She tries to keep you from your friends and she is trying to get you to fight with Blaise all the time, isn't she?"

Harry opened his mouth to argue but couldn't because he knew Loki was right. Hermione gasped as she jumped up and turned to Harry. "We only disliked each other because Ron treated me like dirt. I wasn't the nicest but you saw through to the real me. Ron always starts fights with people so that they wont get near us. Ron only started acting liked he liked me after Viktor took me to that dance. Ginny glares at me when I help you with your work and she is the one that tripped me down the steps."

Draco growled and walked over to her, "What was that last part, Mia? Tripped you down the steps? That time when you almost broke all your bones and could have die? That was her? Why didn't you say anything?"

Hermione looked down at her hands, "Harry was dealing with his dreams, Ron didn't care, Neville was visiting his parents and you were fighting with yours. It just didn't seem so important."

Draco and Harry sighed, Draco pulled her into a hug, "Mia you are very important. Nothing you have to tell us would never be unimportant. We care about you, you have to tell us these things. Harry, Neville and Blaize destroyed their rooms when they found out." he pulled back so she could look up at him as he smirked. "I panicked, I needed to see you but she wouldn't let me. I was going crazy, Blaize and Harry got so annoyed that they knocked me out. Please promise if anything like that happens again that you will tell us." She nods.

Alex sighed, "How about if it already has but she just kept it from you?" they turned to him, "Just like Harry's lines in detention 'I shall not lie.' That is why she is wearing a wrap on her hands." Hermione groaned as Draco and Harry turned to her. She sighed and removed the wrap, the words 'I shall not show up the pure bloods' were clear as day. Harry growled but what surprised everyone was that Draco took her hand, kissed it, walked over to the couch, sat down and pulled her into his lap.

Harry, Neville and Blaize laughed. Luna smirked, "About Bloody time. I thought you two would never get along."

Hermione laughed but turned to the four, "Why would they do this to us?"

Loki, Jasper and Alex turned away from her, causing Raven to frown and pout. Loki looked at her, "Ray, you must know how hard this is for us. She is our Mia, we can not be the one that hurts her, it would brake us."

"Our Mia?" Hermione asked.

"You come to mean a lot to us, you are the first of everyone to except the three of us for who we are, not hate us for our lives and family." Alex spoke.

"Three?" Remus asked.

"Yes, Jasper, Loki and I. No one gives Raven a chance besides a certain loner." Alex whispered, causing everyone to looked sad. "We can not tell Mia, knowing it will hurt her."

Raven sighed and shook her head, she walked toward Hermione only to stop at Jasper's hand on her stomach. "Ice?"

"She needs to know, They all deserve to know. I will not watch him die again!" she snapped at him, everyone could see the tears in her eyes. "He was the first to love me, to not care who the man who raised me was. He cared even before my brother did, I will not lose him this time, I can't. He helped me find myself, I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for him saving me, Jazz please."

He sighed and nodded his head, he bent forward and kissed her forehead, "Be careful of how you say it."

Raven turned to them and sighed. "Ginny chose Harry because he was famous, she took Molly's view on Family Image and twisted it. She was a prueblood, Harry was the boy who lived and she was not going to lose him to anyone. If she could marry him, her life would be set, prefect and even if she didn't love him she was stay, if only to have the name and the power to go with it."

Harry stood and began to pace, "I wouldn't have married, unless she had my under some kind of control."

"Harry, how can you say that?" Molly demanded.

Harry sighed, "Because I am gay, Molly." Everyone smiled and nodded but Molly looked shocked.

Raven turned to Hermione then Harry and looked down at her feet. "Harry, Ron is your friend but only on your side. He hates you! You have the fame he craves, the fame he desires so that he can finally be better then his brothers that he is always compared to. He finds Hermione disgusting but keeps her close so that she doesn't make any new friends that might lure you away from him. In the future we come from, Harry is married and hopelessly unhappy, Hermione locks herself in her room but when she comes down, she is covered in bruises," the three boys behind Raven begin to growl. "Ron beats her, telling her that she is nothing but a mud blood whore. She believes him because noone stops him but she hides it so well that none of us knew until it was to late."

"Too late?" Remus asked.

"Until she was dead." Loki whispered in a broken voice as he fell to his knees.

"We found her that day, she was just laying there, eyes open. She looked so scared and we didn't even know." Alex growled.

Jasper took a deep breath, "We went after Ron but he was hiding in a house with Lucius Malfoy and Bellatrix LeStrange."

"When the Aurors went to get them, Ron vanished again only to show up at the Twin's joke shop. Charlie and I were there taking over for the twins, who had to go to their Paris store to help out with a problem. Ron was angry and looking for a fight, he began to attack me, I lost my wand and he Crucio'd me, I heard him say it. The Killing curse. The two words that would kill me, I was ready for it, I waited but it never came..." Raven's voice broke as her hair turn bright white, "I opened my eyes and there he were laying at my feet as Harry and Draco knocked Ron out. I sat up, screaming. I thought it was a nightmare, a cruel joke but he wouldn't move. I laid there with him for two day before anyone could get close to us. I couldn't let him go, not my best friend, my savior, my guardian, the greatest person I ever knew. Charlie Weasley. Ron tried to kill me and once again he stepped in and saved my life. I had lost him and I couldn't bring him back." She closed her eyes as the tears ran down her face and her body began to shake.

Alex walked to her and held her to him, "She wouldn't let anyone near him for two days. She just cried and screamed. Everyone came to their sences then and realised that Raven was nothing like the man that raised her. That she had a heart and she would die for those she loved. It only took the most important person in her life to die for everyone to see what he saw the first moment he saw her. That she was the fourth half of us, that she would never betray us. That she was real."

Loki and Jasper walked up and hugged them both, everyone watched them as they began to realise that they were a family. Charlie stood shocked that this women infront of him cared so deeply for him. He swore to himself that he would never let her down, Fred and George looked at each other and nodded, they stood up, walked to the group and waited. Then three boys let go of Raven and the twins pulled her into their arms. They held her as she broke down and cried for them. Fred rubbed her back, "Shh, it will be okay Snowball. We are here..."

"... and no one will take Charlie from you again Princess." Goerge finished.

Raven giggled, "You guys used to call me that. Princess Snowball because when I relax my hair goes white and because I turn into artic wolf."

Fred and George smiled at each other over her head, "Well Princess, why don't you tell us why you are here?"

Raven relaxed as stepped back to stand with the boys, "We are here because Bellatrix, Lucius, Ron and Greyback nearly kill us all. They wont give up and they need to be stopped. Voldermort dies, we have seen it but not everyone was there. Some ran, other where to busy fighting and most just wouldn't believe. So we are here to fix it."

"How?" Hermione asked, Loki smiled and her as Jasper laughed.

Alex smirked, "Books, of course. Books that you and Harry sat down and wrote yourselves. About your years at Hogwarts."

"So everyone take a sit and lets begin." Loki smiled, as everyone sat down. Everyone sat together with their familys, first was Neville and his parents, then Harry and Hermione with Lily, James, Both Remus' and Sirius', then the Malfoys, Regulus Black and both Severus', Then Blaise, Luna, Tonks, Amelia Bones, Alastor Moody and Minerva and Dumbledore. Finally came the Weasleys, Molly, Arthur, Bill, Charlie, the twins who sat next to the Prewett Twins. Alex, Loki, Jasper and Raven sat completing the curcle. A table appeared in the middle and seven books appeared on it. "Now we know how Harry hates his fame so when reading the title of the book leave out Harry Potter and. Who should go first?"

"Let's go in order, so we don't get confused. Start with Neville," Alex pointed, "then go around the table."

"Go idea. Neville you first." Loki agreed, Neville picked up the first book and opened his mouth but Raven cut him off.

"Wait!" Everyone looked at her. "I don't know that full story but I know bad things happen, so once we start no one leaves, make a list, make plans, I don't care but NO ONE LEAVES until we are done. Another thing, No one is to be blamed for what goes on in these books, no hexes, no fights. You have something to say wait, say it but no magic. We will take breaks, we will eat and rest but we are all here because we need to be, remember that. Oh Professors, no one can get detentions, points taken and get in trouble for ANYTHING in these books. Severus, that goes double for you. Marauders no attaking Severus, either of them, while we are reading. I think that is everything but if more come up, we will handle it." she sat down as everyone nodded and wmotioned for Neville to continue.


	4. Chapter 4 The boy who lived

**Chapter 4 - The boy who lived**

**Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much. They were the last people you'd expect to be involved in anything strange or mysterious, because they just didn't hold with such nonsense.**

Harry groaned, "This is going to be so boring."

"Why is it talking about them?" Lily growled.

**Mr. Dursley was the director of a firm called Grunnings, which made drills. He was a big, beefy man with hardly any neck, although he did have a very large mustache. Mrs. Dursley was thin and blonde and had nearly twice the usual amount of neck, which came in very useful as she spent so much of her time craning over garden fences, spying on the neighbors. The Dursleys had a small son called Dudley and in their opinion there was no finer boy anywhere.**

Harry, Fred and George began laughing. Harry shook his head. "They are stupid."

"We have seen him..." George began.

Fred smirked. "he is not small."

**The Dursleys had everything they wanted, but they also had a secret, and their greatest fear was that somebody would discover it. They didn't think they could bear it if anyone found out about the Potters. **

"There is nothing wrong with the Potters!" shouted Hermione, George and Fred as everyone from the past frowned.

**Mrs. Potter was Mrs. Dursley's sister, but they hadn't met for several years; in fact, Mrs. Dursley pretended she didn't have a sister, because her sister and her good-for-nothing husband were as unDursleyish**

"Oh, that isn't even a bloody word." Hermione swore.

"Hermione." Molly warned her, Hermione turned to her and glared.

"You are not my mother, Molly. You will not tell me what to do or what not to say. It is bad enough that you are mean to your own children but you will leave Harry and I alone. You are not our mothers." Hermione snapped, Molly glared at her and opened her mouth.

Raven growled. "Enough Mrs. Weasley. Ron is the way he is because you are always compare him to his older brothers. The Twins think that they can never be good enough in your eyes because they were not Prefects, heads of Captains. Now leave her alone! Continue Neville."

**as it was possible to be. The Dursleys shuddered to think what the neighbors would say if the Potters arrived in the street. The Dursleys knew that the Potters had a small son, too, but they had never even seen him. This boy was another good reason for keeping the Potters away; they didn't want Dudley mixing with a child like that. When Mr. and Mrs. Dursley woke up on the dull, gray Tuesday our story starts, there was nothing about the cloudy sky outside to suggest that strange and mysterious things would soon be happening all over the country. Mr. Dursley hummed as he picked out his most boring tie for work, and Mrs. Dursley gossiped away happily as she wrestled a screaming Dudley into his high chair. None of them noticed a large, tawny owl flutter past the window.**

"Is that weird?" Gideon asked. Hermione and Harry nodded.

**At half past eight, Mr. Dursley picked up his briefcase, pecked Mrs. Dursley on the cheek, and tried to kiss Dudley good-bye but missed, because Dudley was now having a tantrum and throwing his cereal at the walls. "Little tyke," chortled Mr. Dursley as he left the house. He got into his car and backed out of number four's drive.**

"That is not a good way to raise a kid." Alex whispered.

Draco nodded, "It will turn them into a brat."

**It was on the corner of the street that he noticed the first sign of something peculiar, a cat reading a map.**

"Minnie!" the Marauders and the Prewett twins yelled out as the Weasley twins screamed. "McGonagall!"

"Really boys." Minerva smiled as she shook her head.

** For a second, Mr. Dursley didn't realize what he had seen then he jerked his head around to look again. There was a tabby cat standing on the corner of Privet Drive, but there wasn't a map in sight. What could he have been thinking of? It must have been a trick of the light. Mr. Dursley blinked and stared at the cat. It stared back. As Mr. Dursley drove around the corner and up the road, he watched the cat in his mirror. It was now reading the sign that said Privet Drive, no, **_**looking **_**at the sign; cats couldn't read maps **_**or **_**signs. Mr. Dursley gave himself a little shake and put the cat out of his mind. As he drove toward town he thought of nothing except a large order of drills he was hoping to get that day. But on the edge of town, drills were driven out of his mind by something else. As he sat in the usual morning traffic jam, he couldn't help noticing that there seemed to be a lot of strangely dressed people about. People in cloaks. Mr. Dursley couldn't bear people who dressed in funny clothes the getups you saw on young people! He supposed this was some stupid new fashion. He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel and his eyes fell on a huddle of these weirdos standing quite close by. They were whispering excitedly together. Mr. Dursley was enraged to see that a couple of them weren't young at all; why, that man had to be older than he was, and wearing an emerald-green cloak! The nerve of him! But then it struck Mr. Dursley that this was probably some silly stunt these people were obviously collecting for something . . . yes, that would be it. The traffic moved on and a few minutes later, Mr. Dursley arrived in the runnings parking lot, his mind back on drills. **

"Drills?" Arthur asked.

Hermione went to answer but Loki beat her to it. "It is a muggle tool that digs holes into the ground. If you have any other questions, write it down and either Mia, Harry, Lily or myself can answer them for you later."

**Mr. Dursley always sat with his back to the window in his office on the ninth floor. If he hadn't, he might have found it harder to concentrate on drills that morning. **_**He **_**didn't see the owls swooping past in broad daylight, though people down in the street did; they pointed and gazed open-mouthed as owl after owl sped overhead. Most of them had never seen an owl even at nighttime. Mr. Dursley, however, had a perfectly normal, owl-free morning. He yelled at five different people. He made several important telephone calls and shouted a bit more. He was in a very good mood until lunchtime, when he thought he'd stretch his legs and walk**

"He did what?" Harry gasped, Lily looked at her son. Why did he hate them so much?

** across the road to buy himself a bun from the bakery. **

"Oh, the world is right again." Harry whispered, causing both sets of twins and the Marauders to laugh.

** He'd forgotten all about the people in cloaks until he passed a group of them next to the baker's. He eyed them angrily as he passed. He didn't know why, but they made him uneasy. This bunch were whispering excitedly, too, and he couldn't see a single collecting tin. It was on his way back past them, clutching a large doughnut in a bag, that he caught a few words of what they were saying.**

**"The Potters, that's right, that's what I heard —"**

** "— yes, their son, Harry —"**

Hermione gasped, "Harry, is it?" Harry nodded, Neville groaned as he pulled his mother into a hug.

"It will be okay. We will fix it." Loki whispered to Harry, who blushed but nodded.

**Mr. Dursley stopped dead. Fear flooded him. He looked back at the whisperers as if he wanted to say something to them, but thought better of it. He dashed back across the road, hurried up to his office, snapped at his secretary not to disturb him, seized his telephone, and had almost finished dialing his home number when he changed his mind. He put the receiver back down and stroked his mustache, thinking . . . no, he was being stupid. Potter wasn't such an unusual name. He was sure there were lots of people called Potter who had a son called Harry. Come to think of it, he wasn't even sure his nephew **_**was **_**called Harry.**

"He didn't even know your name!" Hermione yelled, Harry shrugged. "That fat stupid worthless bastard!"

"Mia. It is okay, we will fix it." Draco whispered to her, causing her to calm down.

**He'd never even seen the boy. It might have been Harvey. Or Harold. There was no point in worrying Mrs. Dursley; she always got so upset at any mention of her sister. He didn't blame her — if **_**he'd **_**had a sister like that . . . but all the same, those people in cloaks . . . He found it a lot harder to concentrate on drills that afternoon and when he left the building at five o'clock, he was still so worried that he walked straight into someone just outside the door.**

**"Sorry,"**

Harry growled, Neville looked concerned at him but he shook his head.

** he grunted, as the tiny old man stumbled and almost fell. It was a few seconds before Mr. Dursley realized that the man was wearing a violet cloak. He didn't seem at all upset at being almost knocked to the ground. On the contrary, his face split into a wide smile and he said in a squeaky voice that made passersby stare.**

**"Don't be sorry, my dear sir, for nothing could upset me today! Rejoice, for You-Know-Who has gone at last! Even Muggles like yourself should be celebrating, this happy, happy day!" And the old man hugged Mr. Dursley around the middle and walked off.**

Everyone from the past smiled but the others lowered their heads.

**Mr. Dursley stood rooted to the spot. He had been hugged by a complete stranger. He also thought he had been called a Muggle, whatever that was. He was rattled. He hurried to his car and set off for home, hoping he was imagining things, which he had never hoped before, because he didn't approve of imagination. As he pulled into the driveway of number four, the first thing he saw — and it didn't improve his mood — was the tabby cat he'd spotted that morning. It was now sitting on his garden wall. He was sure it was the same one; it had the same markings around its eyes.**

"That is diffidently Aunt Minnie." Alex laughed.

"Alex!" Loki and Raven gasped as Jasper smacked him in the back of the head.

"Sorry." Alex shrugged.

"Aunt?" Minerva asked but the four looked away from her as if they didn't hear her.

**"Shoo!" said Mr. Dursley loudly.**

** The cat didn't move. It just gave him a stern look. Was this normal cat behavior? Mr. Dursley wondered. Trying to pull himself together, he let himself into the house. He was still determined not to mention anything to his wife. Mrs. Dursley had had a nice, normal day. She told him over dinner all about Mrs. Next Door's problems with her daughter and how Dudley had learned a new word ("Won't!"). **

** Mr. Dursley tried to act normally. When Dudley had been put to bed, he went into the living room in time to catch the last report on the evening news: "And finally, bird-watchers everywhere have reported that the nation's owls have been behaving very unusually today. Although owls normally hunt at night and are hardly ever seen in daylight, there have been hundreds of sightings of these birds flying in every direction since sunrise. Experts are unable to explain why the owls have suddenly changed their sleeping pattern." The newscaster allowed himself a grin. "Most mysterious. And now, over to Jim McGuffin with the weather. Going to be any more showers of owls tonight, Jim?"**

** "Well, Ted," said the weatherman, "I don't know about that, but it's not only the owls that have been acting oddly today. Viewers as far apart as Kent, Yorkshire, and Dundee have been phoning in to tell me that instead of the rain I promised yesterday, they've had a downpour of shooting stars! Perhaps people have been celebrating Bonfire Night early — it's not until next week, folks! But I can promise a wet night tonight."**

"Constant Vigilance!" Raven shouted out, making everyone jump but Moody laughed. She smiled at him, sweetly.

"Good job, girlie." he said is a gruff voice.

"Thank you, I had a good teacher." she giggled.

**Mr. Dursley sat frozen in his armchair. Shooting stars all over Britain? Owls flying by daylight? Mysterious people in cloaks all over the place? And a whisper, a whisper about the Potters . . . Mrs. Dursley came into the living room carrying two cups of tea. It was no good. He'd have to say something to her. He cleared his throat nervously. "Er — Petunia, dear — you haven't heard from your sister lately, have you?"**

** As he had expected, Mrs. Dursley looked shocked and angry. After all, they normally pretended she didn't have a sister. "No," she said sharply. "Why?"**

"Tunnie, why?" Lily cried, James pulled her close and she didn't fight him.

** "Funny stuff on the news," Mr. Dursley mumbled. "Owls . . . shooting stars . . . and there were a lot of funny-looking people in town today . . ."**

** "**_**So**_**?" snapped Mrs. Dursley.**

** "Well, I just thought . . . maybe . . . it was something to do with . . . you know . . . **_**her **_**crowd." Mrs. Dursley sipped her tea through pursed lips. Mr. Dursley wondered whether he dared tell her he'd heard the name "Potter." He decided he didn't dare. Instead he said, as casually as he could, "Their son, he'd be about Dudley's age now, wouldn't he?"**

"Oh good lord, he doesn't even know how old you are?" Draco smacked his head. "Potte... Harry. I am so sorry, you get stuck with these people."

"Thank you Draco." Harry laughed.

**"I suppose so," said Mrs. Dursley stiffly.**

** "What's his name again? Howard, isn't it?"**

** "Harry. Nasty, common name, if you ask me."**

** "Oh, yes," said Mr. Dursley, his heart sinking horribly. "Yes, I quite agree."**

"Well no one asked you, you giant prune!" Loki snapped, Harry blushed and laughed. Loki looked over at him.

"A couple more chapters and you will laugh too, promise." Harry whispered, Loki smirked and nodded, causing Harry to blush more, Lily and James noticed this.

**He didn't say another word on the subject as they went upstairs to bed. While Mrs. Dursley was in the bathroom, Mr. Dursley crept to the bedroom window and peered down into the front garden. The cat was still there. It was staring down Privet Drive as though it were waiting for something. Was he imagining things? Could all this have anything to do with the Potters? If it did . . . if it got out that they were related to a pair of — well, he didn't think he could bear it. The Dursleys got into bed. Mrs. Dursley fell asleep quickly but Mr. Dursley lay awake, turning it all over in his mind. His last, comforting thought before he fell asleep was that even if the Potters **_**were **_**involved, there was no reason for them to come near him and Mrs. Dursley. The Potters knew very well what he and Petunia thought about them and their kind. . . . He couldn't see how he and Petunia could get mixed up in anything that might be going on — he yawned and turned over — it couldn't affect **_**them. **_**. . . How very wrong he was.**

"Of course he was..." Gideon stated.

"He jinxed himself." Fabian finished, Hermione and Luna laughed. The twins looked at them and they pointed the Fred and George.

George smirked, "Well my dear Gred, I believe..."

"That we have more in common with our Uncles..." Fred put in.

"Then we previously believed..." George continued

"And were led to believe, my dear Forge." Fred finished, causing the Prewett twins to laugh and hug them.

James and young Sirius smiled, "Brilliant."

**Mr. Dursley might have been drifting into an uneasy sleep, but the cat on the wall outside was showing no sign of sleepiness. It was sitting as still as a statue, its eyes fixed unblinkingly on the far corner of Privet Drive. It didn't so much as quiver when a car door slammed on the next street, nor when two owls swooped overhead. In fact, it was nearly midnight before the cat moved at all. A man appeared on the corner the cat had been watching, appeared so suddenly and silently you'd have thought he'd just popped out of the ground. The cat's tail twitched and its eyes narrowed. Nothing like this man had ever been seen on Privet Drive. He was tall, thin, and very old, judging by the silver of his hair and beard, which were both long enough to tuck into his belt. He was wearing long robes, a purple cloak that swept the ground, and high-heeled, buckled boots. His blue eyes were light, bright, and sparkling behind half-moon spectacles and his nose was very long and crooked, as though it had been broken at least twice. This man's name was Albus Dumbledore.**

"Oh, he knew. He just doesn't care." Harry, Hermione, Luna and Neville whispered.

**Albus Dumbledore didn't seem to realize that he had just arrived in a street where everything from his name to his boots was unwelcome. He was busy rummaging in his cloak, looking for something. But he did seem to realize he was being watched, because he looked up suddenly at the cat, which was still staring at him from the other end of the street. For some reason, the sight of the cat seemed to amuse him. He chuckled and muttered, "I should have known."**

**He found what he was looking for in his inside pocket. It seemed to be a silver cigarette lighter. He flicked it open, held it up in the air, and clicked it. The nearest street lamp went out with a little pop. He clicked it again — the next lamp flickered into darkness. Twelve times he clicked the Put-Outer, until the only lights left on the whole street were two tiny pinpricks in the distance, which were the eyes of the cat watching him. If anyone looked out of their window now, even beady-eyed Mrs. Dursley, they wouldn't be able to see anything that was happening down on the pavement. Dumbledore slipped the Put-Outer back inside his cloak and set off down the street toward number four, where he sat down on the wall next to the cat. He didn't look at it, but after a moment he spoke to it. "Fancy seeing you here, Professor McGonagall."**

"I knew it!" the boys stood up and shouted. Lily and Alice just laughed.

**He turned to smile at the tabby, but it had gone. Instead he was smiling at a rather severe-looking woman who was wearing square glasses exactly the shape of the markings the cat had had around its eyes. She, too, was wearing a cloak, an emerald one. Her black hair was drawn into a tight bun. She looked distinctly ruffled. "How did you know it was me?" she asked.**

** "My dear Professor, I've never seen a cat sit so stiffly."**

** "You'd be stiff if you'd been sitting on a brick wall all day," said Professor McGonagall.**

** "All day? When you could have been celebrating? I must have passed a dozen feasts and parties on my way here."**

** Professor McGonagall sniffed angrily. "Oh yes, everyone's celebrating, all right," she said impatiently. "You'd think they'd be a bit more careful, but no — even the Muggles have noticed something's going on. It was on their news." She jerked her head back at the Dursleys' dark living-room window. "I heard it. Flocks of owls . . . shooting stars. . . . Well, they're not completely stupid. They were bound to notice something. Shooting stars down in Kent — I'll bet that was Dedalus Diggle. He never had much sense."**

**"You can't blame them," said Dumbledore gently. "We've had precious little to celebrate for eleven years."**

"Eleven years? That means that..." Sirius whispered, Remus nodded as they both turned to James who was holding Lily tightly.

**"I know that," said Professor McGonagall irritably. "But that's no reason to lose our heads. People are being downright careless, out on the streets in broad daylight, not even dressed in Muggle clothes, swapping rumors." She threw a sharp, sideways glance at Dumbledore here, as though hoping he was going to tell her something, but he didn't, so she went on. "A fine thing it would be if, on the very day You- Know-Who seems to have disappeared at last, the Muggles found out about us all. I suppose he really **_**has **_**gone, Dumbledore?"**

** "It certainly seems so," said Dumbledore. "We have much to be thankful for. Would you care for a lemon drop?"**

** "A **_**what**_**?"**

"Muggle Candy!" Fred answered.

** "A lemon drop. They're a kind of Muggle sweet I'm rather**

**fond of."**

** "No, thank you," said Professor McGonagall coldly, as though she didn't think this was the moment for lemon drops. "As I say, even if You-Know-Who **_**has **_**gone..."**

**"My dear Professor, surely a sensible person like yourself can call him by his name? All this 'You-Know-Who' nonsense — for eleven years I have been trying to persuade people to call him by his proper name: **_**Voldemort.**_**" Professor McGonagall flinched, but Dumbledore, who was unsticking two lemon drops, seemed not to notice. "It all gets so confusing if we keep saying 'You-Know-Who.' I have never seen any reason to be frightened of saying Voldemort's name."**

** "I know you haven't," said Professor McGonagall, sounding half exasperated, half admiring. "But you're different. Everyone knows you're the only one You-Know- oh, all right, **_**Voldemort, **_**was frightened of."**

** "You flatter me," said Dumbledore calmly. "Voldemort had powers I will never have."**

** "Only because you're too — well — **_**noble **_**to use them."**

** "It's lucky its dark. I haven't blushed so much since Madam Pomfrey told me she liked my new earmuffs."**

** Professor McGonagall shot a sharp look at Dumbledore and said, "The owls are nothing next to the **_**rumors **_**that are flying around. You know what everyone's saying? About why he's disappeared? About what finally stopped him?" It seemed that Professor McGonagall had reached the point she was most anxious to discuss, the real reason she had been waiting on a cold, hard wall all day, for neither as a cat nor as a woman had she fixed Dumbledore with such a piercing stare as she did now. It was plain that whatever "everyone" was saying, she was not going to believe it until Dumbledore told her it was true. Dumbledore, however, was choosing another lemon drop and did not answer. "What they're **_**saying,**_**" she pressed on, "is that last night Voldemort turned up in Godric's Hollow. He went to find the Potters. The rumor is that Lily and James Potter are — are — that they're — **_**dead.**_**"**

Harry closed his eyes as Hermione cried out and hugged him. He took deep breaths and when he opened them, everyone was watching him. "I am okay."

**Dumbledore bowed his head. Professor McGonagall gasped. "Lily and James . . . I can't believe it . . . I didn't want to believe it . . . Oh, Albus . . ."**

"See Minnie I told you that you loved us." James whispered.

Minerva smirked, "Of course I do James."

**Dumbledore reached out and patted her on the shoulder. "I know . . . I know . . ." he said heavily.**

** Professor McGonagall's voice trembled as she went on. "That's not all. They're saying he tried to kill the Potters' son, Harry. But he couldn't. He couldn't kill that little boy. No one knows why, or how, but they're saying that when he couldn't kill Harry Potter, Voldemort's power somehow broke and that's why he's gone." Dumbledore nodded glumly. "It's... it's **_**true**_**?" faltered Professor McGonagall. "After all he's done . . . all the people he's killed . . . he couldn't kill a little boy? It's just astounding . . . of all the things to stop him . . . but how in the name of heaven did Harry survive?"**

"I wish I hadn't." Harry whispered, Hermione hugged him tighter as everyone frowned at his words.

**"We can only guess," said Dumbledore. "We may never know." Professor McGonagall pulled out a lace handkerchief and dabbed at her eyes beneath her spectacles. Dumbledore gave a great sniff as he took a golden watch from his pocket and examined it. It was a very odd watch. It had twelve hands but no numbers; instead, little planets were moving around the edge. It must have made sense to Dumbledore, though, because he put it back in his pocket and said, "Hagrid's late. I suppose it was he who told you I'd be here, by the way?"**

** "Yes," said Professor McGonagall. "And I don't suppose you're going to tell me **_**why **_**you're here, of all places?"**

** "I've come to bring Harry to his aunt and uncle. They're the only family he has left now."**

"Oh Dumbledore no, please. Sirius was suppose to take him." Lily cried.

"It was for his own good." Albus stated.

Raven growled, everyone looked at her. "No it wasn't. He would have been better with Siri! He would be happy, healthy and not ..."

"Ice!" Jasper growled, Raven glared at him. "Enough."

"No it isn't. He doesn't deserve to..."

"I said enough!" Jasper snapped, Loki and Alex watched them, scared. Raven glared at him, got up walked over the the wall and started punching it,screaming. Jasper lowered his head. Loki stood up, walked over to her and waited.

When she turned around, the was a hole in the wall and her hands were bleeding. Loki took them, cleaned and healed them, then they walked over and sat down. Raven glared at Jasper before turning to Neville, "Please continue."

**"You don't mean — you **_**can't **_**mean the people who live **_**here**_**?" cried Professor McGonagall, jumping to her feet and pointing at number four. "Dumbledore — you can't. I've been watching them all day. You couldn't find two people who are less like us. And they've got this son — I saw him kicking his mother all the way up the street, screaming for sweets. Harry Potter come and live here!"**

** "It's the best place for him," said Dumbledore firmly. "His aunt and uncle will be able to explain everything to him when he's older. I've written them a letter."**

"A letter?" Hermione snapped, "What are you stupid?"

** "A letter?" repeated Professor McGonagall faintly, sitting back down on the wall. "Really, Dumbledore, you think you can explain all this in a letter? These people will never understand him! He'll be famous, a legend, I wouldn't be surprised if today was known as Harry Potter Day in the future, there will be books written about Harry, every child in our world will know his name!"**

**"Exactly," said Dumbledore, looking very seriously over the top of his half-moon glasses. "It would be enough to turn any boy's head. Famous before he can walk and talk! Famous for something he won't even remember! Can't you see how much better off he'll be, growing up away from all that until he's ready to take it?"**

** Professor McGonagall opened her mouth, changed her mind, swallowed, and then said, "Yes, you're right, of course. But how is the boy getting here, Dumbledore?" She eyed his cloak suddenly as though she thought he might be hiding Harry underneath it.**

** "Hagrid's bringing him."**

** "You think it **_**wise **_**to trust Hagrid with something as important as this?"**

"Hagrid is the best there is, Minnie." Loki spoke quietly.

"I know."

**"I would trust Hagrid with my life," said Dumbledore.**

** "I'm not saying his heart isn't in the right place," said Professor McGonagall grudgingly, "but you can't pretend he's not careless. He does tend to... what was that?"**

**A low rumbling sound had broken the silence around them. It grew steadily louder as they looked up and down the street for some sign of a headlight; it swelled to a roar as they both looked up at the sky and a huge motorcycle**

"Dixie!" Loki and Alex smirked.

Sirius frowned, "How do you my bike?" Loki and Alex just smiled.

** fell out of the air and landed on the road in front of them. If the motorcycle was huge, it was nothing to the man sitting astride it. He was almost twice as tall as a normal man and at least five times as wide. He looked simply too big to be allowed, and so **_**wild **_**— long tangles of bushy black hair and beard hid most of his face, he had hands the size of trash can lids, and his feet in their leather boots were like baby dolphins. In his vast, muscular arms he was holding a bundle of blankets.**

** "Hagrid," said Dumbledore, sounding relieved. "At last. And where did you get that motorcycle?"**

** "Borrowed it, Professor Dumbledore, sir," said the giant, climbing carefully off the motorcycle as he spoke. "Young Sirius Black lent it to me. I've got him, sir."**

** "No problems, were there?"**

**"No, sir house was almost destroyed, but I got him out all right before the Muggles started swarmin' around. He fell asleep as we was flyin' over Bristol."**

** Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall bent forward over the bundle of blankets. Inside, just visible, was a baby boy, fast asleep. Under a tuft of jet-black hair over his forehead they could see a curiously shaped cut, like a bolt of lightning. "Is that where...?" whispered Professor McGonagall.**

** "Yes," said Dumbledore. "He'll have that scar forever."**

** "Couldn't you do something about it, Dumbledore?"**

** "Even if I could, I wouldn't. Scars can come in handy. I have one myself above my left knee that is a perfect map of the London Underground. Well — give him here, Hagrid — we'd better get this over with." Dumbledore took Harry in his arms and turned toward the Dursleys' house.**

**"Could I — could I say good-bye to him, sir?" asked Hagrid. He bent his great, shaggy head over Harry and gave him what must have been a very scratchy, whiskery kiss. Then, suddenly, Hagrid**

**let out a howl like a wounded dog.**

** "Shhh!" hissed Professor McGonagall, "you'll wake the Muggles!"**

** "S-s-sorry," sobbed Hagrid, taking out a large, spotted handkerchief and burying his face in it. "But I c-c-can't stand it, Lily an' James dead an' poor little Harry off ter live with Muggles..."**

** "Yes, yes, its all very sad, but get a grip on yourself, Hagrid, or we'll be found," Professor McGonagall whispered, patting Hagrid gingerly on the arm as Dumbledore stepped over the low garden wall and walked to the front door. He laid Harry gently on the doorstep, took a letter out of his cloak, tucked it inside Harry's blankets, and then came back to the other two. For a full minute the three of them stood and looked at the little bundle; Hagrid's shoulders shook, Professor McGonagall blinked furiously, and the twinkling light that usually shone from Dumbledore's eyes seemed to have gone out.**

"That's never a good thing." James whispered.

**"Well," said Dumbledore finally, "that's that. We've no business staying here. We may as well go and join the celebrations."**

** "Yeah," said Hagrid in a very muffled voice, "I'd best get this bike away. G'night, Professor McGonagall, Professor Dumbledore, sir." Wiping his streaming eyes on his jacket sleeve, Hagrid swung himself onto the motorcycle and kicked the engine into life; with a roar it rose into the air and off into the night.**

** "I shall see you soon, I expect, Professor McGonagall," said Dumbledore, nodding to her. Professor McGonagall blew her nose in reply. Dumbledore turned and walked back down the street. On the corner he stopped and took out the silver Put-Outer. He clicked it once, and twelve balls of light sped back to their street lamps so that Privet Drive glowed suddenly orange and he could make out a tabby cat slinking around the corner at the other end of the street. He could just see the bundle of blankets on the step of number four. "Good luck, Harry," he murmured. He turned on his heel and with a swish of his cloak, he was gone.**

"You left my son on a doorstep, Albus?" Lily asked quietly, James know her moved away slowly.

"He was protected." Albus assured her.

Lily glared, "We shall see."

**A breeze ruffled the neat hedges of Privet Drive, which lay silent and tidy under the inky sky, the very last place you would expect astonishing things to happen. Harry Potter rolled over inside his blankets without waking up. One small hand closed on the letter beside him and he slept on, not knowing he was special, not knowing he was famous, not knowing he would be woken in a few hours' time by Mrs. Dursley's scream as she opened the front door to put out the milk bottles, nor that he would spend the next few weeks being prodded and pinched by his cousin Dudley. . . . He couldn't know that at this very moment, people meeting in secret all over the country were holding up their glasses and saying in hushed voices: "To Harry Potter — the boy who lived!"**

"That is such a stupid name!" Harry shouted. "I didn't live, I survived. What the bloody hell is wrong with you people? My parents just died and already, you have my life planned out! Well guess what, you got it wrong!" He pushed away from the table and walked away, Hermione went after him.

"Harry?" she called, he turned to her. "I know that nothing I can say will take it away but I am still here for you." He smiled and pulled her into a hug."

Neville passed the book to his mother before getting up and joining them, slowly Draco, Blasie and Luna made their way over too. They all just stood there, looking down at their feet. Neville smiled a little while later. "Look it is one of our creepy silence circles!" They all laughed, hugged each other then walked back over to sit down.

Alice smiled at her son then turned back to the book.


	5. Chapter 5 the vanishing Glass

**Chapter 5 The Vanishing Glass**

**"The Vanishing Glass"** Alice began. Harry laughed.

Hermione giggled, "Brazil?" Harry nodded.

**Nearly ten years had passed since the Dursleys had woken up to find their nephew on the front step, but Privet Drive had hardly changed at all. The sun rose on the same tidy front gardens and lit up the brass number four on the Dursleys' front door; it crept into their living room, which was almost exactly the same as it had been on the night when Mr. Dursley had seen that fateful news report about the owls. Only the photographs on the mantelpiece really showed how much time had passed. Ten years ago, there had been lots of pictures of what looked like a large pink beach ball wearing different-colored bonnets — but Dudley Dursley was no longer a baby, and now the photographs showed a large blond boy riding his first bicycle, on a carousel at the fair, playing a computer game with his father, being hugged and kissed by his mother. The room held no sign at all that another boy lived in the house, too.**

"I don't like the sound of that." Sirius growled.

"Wait, it will get better." Harry whispered but everyone heard him.

The older Severus turned to him, "Harry?" Shocked at his first name, Harry turned to him. "You weren't spoiled were you?" Harry laughed and shook his head, Severus growled as he turned to Albus, "You lied to me? Why? So I would treat him badly, so I would think he was like his father? What is wrong with you?"

"Severus, please. Not now." Jasper interrupted, Severus nodded.

**Yet Harry Potter was still there, asleep at the moment, but not for long. His Aunt Petunia was awake and it was her shrill voice that made the first noise of the day. "Up! Get up! Now!" Harry woke with a start. His aunt rapped on the door again. "Up!" she screeched. **

"I am sure over the years, her voice only got worse." Young Severus and Lily commented, they looked at each other and gave a small smile.

**Harry heard her walking toward the kitchen and then the sound of the frying pan being put on the stove. He rolled onto his back and tried to remember the dream he had been having. It had been a good one. There had been a flying motorcycle in it. He had a funny feeling he'd had the same dream before. His aunt was back outside the door. "Are you up yet?" she demanded.**

** "Nearly," said Harry.**

** "Well, get a move on, I want you to look after the bacon. And don't you dare let it burn, I want everything perfect on Duddy's birthday." Harry groaned. "What did you say?" his aunt snapped through the door.**

"Wait, you cooked? At eleven?" Hermione asked, he nodded. Hermione glared at the Weasly twins, "You better be planning something."

"Oh, my dear Mia, we are..."Fred smiled.

George nodded, "We are indeed."

**"Nothing, nothing . . ."**

** Dudley's birthday, how could he have forgotten? Harry got slowly out of bed, trying not to reopen that wounds on his back as he peeled the bloody shit from his body and started looking for socks.**

"Bloody shit? Wounds? Harry, why?" Hermione gasped as every man in the room growled.

"Harry, did they beat you?" Severus asked in a calm voice. Harry gulped, he knew how dangerous that voice was as he nodded. Severus turned to the two younger twins, "If you need anything, I will help."

George stared completely shocked as Fred nodded to him.

** He found a pair under his bed and, after pulling a spider off one of them, put them on. Harry was used to spiders,**

"How can you be used to spiders?" Draco and Neville asked, Blaise and Luna laughed at them.

**because the cupboard under the stairs was full of them, and that was where he slept.**

"But when we came to rescue you..." Fred began.

"You had a room, it was on the second floor." George stared at him.

Harry sighed, "I lived under the stairs for the first eleven years of my life. I only got the room when the Hogwart letters started to show up."

** When he was dressed he went down the hall into the kitchen. The table was almost hidden beneath all Dudley's birthday presents. It looked as though Dudley had gotten the new computer he wanted, not to mention the second television and the racing bike. Exactly why Dudley wanted a racing bike was a mystery to Harry, as Dudley was very fat and hated exercise unless of course it involved punching somebody.**

"He better not mean you." young Sirius, young Remus and James growled as older Sirius and Remus looked at him with pain in their eyes.

** Dudley's favorite punching bag was Harry, but he couldn't often catch him. Harry didn't look it, but he was very fast. Perhaps it had something to do with living in a dark cupboard, but Harry had always been small and skinny for his age. He looked even smaller and skinnier than he really was because all he had to wear were old clothes of Dudley's, and Dudley was about four times bigger than he was. Harry had a thin face, knobbly knees, black hair, and bright green eyes. He wore round glasses held together with a lot of Scotch tape because of all the times Dudley had punched him on the nose. The only thing Harry liked about his own appearance was a very thin scar on his forehead that was shaped like a bolt of lightning. He had had it as long as he could remember, and the first question he could ever remember asking his Aunt Petunia was how he had gotten it.**

**"In the car crash when your parents died," she had said. "And don't ask questions." **_**Don't ask questions **_**— that was the first rule for a quiet life with the Dursleys.**

"That is what they told you?" Minerva yelled as she grared at the book. "Those worthless, stupid bas.."

"Minerva." Older Severus said, she turned to look at him, took a deep breath and sat down.

**Uncle Vernon entered the kitchen as Harry was turning over the bacon. "Comb your hair!" he barked, by way of a morning greeting.**

"Never going to happen." Harry, Hermione, Draco and Neville sang out causing everyone to laugh.

**About once a week, Uncle Vernon looked over the top of his newspaper and shouted that Harry needed a haircut. Harry must have had more haircuts than the rest of the boys in his class put together, but it made no difference, his hair simply grew that way all over the place. Harry was frying eggs by the time Dudley arrived in the kitchen with his mother. Dudley looked a lot like Uncle Vernon. He had a large pink face, not much neck, small, watery blue eyes, and thick blond hair that lay smoothly on his thick, fat head. Aunt Petunia often said that Dudley looked like a baby angel, Harry often said that Dudley looked like a pig in a wig. Harry put the plates of egg and bacon on the table, which was difficult as there wasn't much room. Dudley, meanwhile, was counting his presents. His face fell. "Thirty-six," he said, looking up at his mother and father. "That's two less than last year."**

**"Darling, you haven't counted Auntie Marge's present, see, it's here under this big one from Mommy and Daddy." **

** "All right, thirty-seven then," said Dudley, going red in the face. Harry, who could see a huge Dudley tantrum coming on, began wolfing down his bacon as fast as possible in case Dudley turned the table over.**

** Aunt Petunia obviously scented danger, too, because she said quickly, "And we'll buy you another **_**two **_**presents while we're out today. How's that, popkin? **_**Two **_**more presents. Is that all right?"**

** Dudley thought for a moment. It looked like hard work. Finally he said slowly, "So I'll have thirty . . . thirty . . ."**

"Oh my Merlin! Harry he can't count. Is that why you dumbed down your homework? Because you were forced to do it there?" Hermione and Luna demanded. Harry laughed as he nodded, Hermione groaned. "All that time I spent yelling at you... Oh I promise they will pay for this."

Harry and Draco both turned to stare at her, they being the only two who had seen Hermione when she was really mad. Harry nodded to Draco, who got up, walked over, turned her and hugged her. When he pulled back, "Mia, I get that you are mad but Harry just got Sirius free and clear of Azkaban, we really don't need you going there okay?"

"Fine but I am still not happy." she pouted, Harry nodded and Draco hugged her again before going back to sit down.

**"Thirty-nine, sweetums," said Aunt Petunia.**

** "Oh." Dudley sat down heavily and grabbed the nearest parcel. "All right then."**

** Uncle Vernon chuckled. "Little tyke wants his money's worth, just like his father. 'Atta boy, Dudley!" He ruffled Dudley's hair.**

** At that moment the telephone rang and Aunt Petunia went to answer it while Harry and Uncle Vernon watched Dudley unwrap the racing bike, a video camera, a remote control airplane, sixteen new computer games, and a VCR. He was ripping the paper off a gold wristwatch when Aunt Petunia came back from the telephone looking both angry and worried.**

** "Bad news, Vernon," she said. "Mrs. Figg's broken her leg. She can't take him." She jerked her head in Harry's direction.**

"He has a name! Use it!" Raven shouted, Jasper shook his head and Loki laughed at her.

**Dudley's mouth fell open in horror, but Harry's heart gave a leap. Every year on Dudley's birthday, his parents took him and a friend out for the day, to adventure parks, hamburger restaurants, or the movies. Every year, Harry was left behind with Mrs. Figg, a mad old lady who lived two streets away. Harry hated it there. The whole house smelled of cabbage and Mrs. Figg made him look at photographs of all the cats she'd ever owned.**

** "Now what?" said Aunt Petunia, looking furiously at Harry as though he'd planned this. Harry knew he ought to feel sorry that Mrs. Figg had broken her leg, but it wasn't easy when he reminded himself it would be a whole year before he had to look at Tibbies, Snowy, Mr. Paws, and Tufty again.**

** "We could phone Marge," Uncle Vernon suggested.**

"Oi! Not her!" Both Severus' shouted, Harry looked at them.

"You knew her?"

"Only once, worse day of my life." Young Severus stated.

**"Don't be silly, Vernon, she hates the boy."**

** The Dursleys often spoke about Harry like this, as though he wasn't there — or rather, as though he was something very nasty that couldn't understand them, like a slug. "What about what's-her-name, your friend — Yvonne?"**

** "On vacation in Majorca," snapped Aunt Petunia.**

** "You could just leave me here," Harry put in hopefully (he'd be able to watch what he wanted on television for a change and maybe even have a go on Dudley's computer).**

"So Slytherin..." Draco and Blaise whispered, Harry laughed.

**Aunt Petunia looked as though she'd just swallowed a lemon. "And come back and find the house in ruins?" she snarled.**

** "I won't blow up the house," said Harry, but they weren't listening.**

"I should though." Harry growled, Hermione laughed.

**"I suppose we could take him to the zoo," said Aunt Petunia slowly, ". . . and leave him in the car. . . ."**

** "That cars new, he's not sitting in it alone. . . ." Dudley began to cry loudly. In fact, he wasn't really crying — it had been years since he'd really cried — but he knew that if he screwed up his face and wailed, his mother would give him anything he wanted.**

** "Dinky Duddydums, don't cry, Mummy won't let him spoil your special day!" she cried, flinging her arms around him.**

"Dinky Duddydums?" Fred and George cried out together before they began to laugh.

** "I . . . don't . . . want . . . him . . . t-t-to come!" Dudley yelled between huge, pretend sobs. "He always sp-spoils everything!" He shot Harry a nasty grin through the gap in his mothers arms.**

**Just then, the doorbell rang — "Oh, good Lord, they're here!" said Aunt Petunia frantically — and a moment later, Dudley's best friend, Piers Polkiss, walked in with his mother. Piers was a scrawny boy with a face like a rat. He was usually the one who held people's arms behind their backs while Dudley hit them. Dudley stopped pretending to cry at once. **

** Half an hour later, Harry, who couldn't believe his luck, was sitting in the back of the Dursleys' car with Piers and Dudley, on the way to the zoo for the first time in his life. His aunt and uncle hadn't been able to think of anything else to do with him, but before they'd left, Uncle Vernon had taken Harry aside. "I'm warning you," he had said, putting his large purple face right up close to Harry's, "I'm warning you now, boy — any funny business, anything at all — and you'll be in that cupboard from now until Christmas."**

** I'm not going to do anything," said Harry, "honestly . . ." But Uncle Vernon didn't believe him. No one ever did.**

"They still don't." Harry spat. Severus, Minerva and Hermione all flinched.

** The problem was, strange things often happened around Harry and it was just no good telling the Dursleys he didn't make them happen. **

** Once, Aunt Petunia, tired of Harry coming back from the barbers looking as though he hadn't been at all, had taken a pair of kitchen scissors and cut his hair so short he was almost bald except for his bangs, which she left "to hide that horrible scar." Dudley had laughed himself silly at Harry, who spent a sleepless night imagining school the next day, where he was already laughed at for his baggy clothes and taped glasses. Next morning, however, he had gotten up to find his hair exactly as it had been before Aunt Petunia had sheared it off. He had been beaten with Uncle Vernon's belt, twenty hits, and been given a week in his cupboard for this, even though he had tried to explain that he **_**couldn't **_**explain how it had grown back so quickly.**

"What?" Lily shouted, "Tunnie she knows about accidental magic. She wouldn't, she would never." she turned to look at Harry, who was staring at his hands. "Oh my, Tunnie what have you become?"

Harry looked up at his mother as she hugged him. "She isn't who you remember, mom."

"I see that now, she is a monster." Lily turned to older Severus, "Will you on our first break? For me?"

"Always." he whispered. _**((I had to add that))**_

** Another time, Aunt Petunia had been trying to force him into a revolting old sweater of Dudley's (brown with orange puff balls). The harder she tried to pull it over his head, the smaller it seemed to become, until finally it might have fitted a hand puppet, but certainly wouldn't fit Harry. Aunt Petunia had decided it must have shrunk in the wash and, to his great relief, Harry wasn't punished.**

** On the other hand, he'd gotten into terrible trouble for being found on the roof of the school kitchens. Dudley's gang had been chasing him as usual when, as much to Harry's surprise as anyone else's, there he was sitting on the chimney. The Dursleys had received a very angry letter from Harry's headmistress telling them Harry had been climbing school buildings. But all he'd tried to do (as he shouted at Uncle Vernon as Vernon was beating him in the head and chest) was jump behind the big trash cans outside the kitchen doors. Harry had felt this wierd pull then he was on the roof.**

** But today, nothing was going to go wrong. It was even worth being with Dudley and Piers to be spending the day somewhere that wasn't school, his cupboard, or Mrs. Figg's cabbage-smelling living room.**

"You jinxed it already, you aren't even at the Zoo?" Draco asked, Harry laughed but nodded.

** While he drove, Uncle Vernon complained to Aunt Petunia. He liked to complain about things: people at work, Harry, the council, Harry, the bank, and Harry were just a few of his favorite subjects. This morning, it was motorcycles. ". . . roaring along like maniacs, the young hoodlums," he said, as a motorcycle overtook them.**

"Oh, no. Harry you didn't!" Hermione turned to him, knowing how good his memory is. Harry smirked and shrugged. "Oh Bugger. Damn it Sirius!"

"What did I do?" the younger Sirius demanded.

Older Sirius laughed, "Calm down Padfoot, we shall see."

Raven gasped, "Oh Siri, that is brillant!" Older Sirius smiled at her, Raven blushed but looked away. "The doubles! We can call the younger ones by their nicknames, so we don't get confused."

"Oh, So Padfoot, Moony and Sev." Loki asked, Raven nodded. "Sounds perfect."

** "I had a dream about a motorcycle," said Harry, remembering suddenly. "It was flying."**

"Harry!" Draco groaned.

Padfoot and Siri laughed, "Sorry Harry."

Harry smirked at them, "Don't worry about it."

** Uncle Vernon nearly crashed into the car in front. He turned right around in his seat and yelled at Harry, his face like a gigantic beet with a mustache: "MOTORCYCLES DON'T FLY!" Dudley and Piers sniggered.**

"Mine does." Padfoot sang.

Alice giggled, "We know padfoot."

** "I know they don't," said Harry. "It was only a dream." But he wished he hadn't said anything. If there was one thing the Dursleys hated even more than his asking questions, it was his talking about anything acting in a way it shouldn't, no matter if it was in a dream or even a cartoon they seemed to think he might get dangerous ideas.**

"Mia?" Fred pouted, she sighed.

George got on his knees, "Please?"

Hermione looked at them then nodded. They jumped up and did a little dance, making everyone laugh.

** It was a very sunny Saturday and the zoo was crowded with families. The Dursleys bought Dudley and Piers large chocolate ice creams at the entrance and then, because the smiling lady in the van had asked Harry what he wanted before they could hurry him away, they bought him a cheap lemon ice pop. It wasn't bad, either, Harry thought, licking it as they watched a gorilla scratching its head who looked remarkably like Dudley, except that it wasn't blond.**

"Harry that was mean." Luna said dreamly, everyone looked at her confused until she smirked. "What did the gorilla ever do to you?" Harry laughed.

** Harry had the best morning he'd had in a long time. He was careful to walk a little way apart from the Dursleys so that Dudley and Piers, who were starting to get bored with the animals by lunchtime, wouldn't fall back on their favorite hobby of hitting him. They ate in the zoo restaurant, and when Dudley had a tantrum because his knickerbocker glory didn't have enough ice cream on top, Uncle Vernon bought him another one and Harry was allowed to finish the first. Harry felt, afterward, that he should have known it was all too good to last.**

"The famous Harry Potter luck." Draco laughed.

"Or lack of." Blaise smirked.

** After lunch they went to the reptile house. It was cool and dark in there, with lit windows all along the walls. Behind the glass, all sorts of lizards and snakes were crawling and slithering over bits of wood and stone. Dudley and Piers wanted to see huge, poisonous cobras and thick, man-crushing pythons. Dudley quickly found the largest snake in the place. It could have wrapped its body twice around Uncle Vernon's car and crushed it into a trash can but at the moment it didn't look in the mood. In fact, it was fast asleep.**

"Harry?" Draco turned to him. "Does what I think happens, Happen?" Harry nodded, Draco groaned smacking his head on the table, causing the adults to look at him and Harry in concern.

** Dudley stood with his nose pressed against the glass, staring at the glistening brown coils. "Make it move," he whined at his father. Uncle Vernon tapped on the glass, but the snake didn't budge. "Do it again," Dudley ordered. Uncle Vernon rapped the glass smartly with his knuckles, but the snake just snoozed on. "This is boring," Dudley moaned. He shuffled away. **

** Harry moved in front of the tank and looked intently at the snake. He wouldn't have been surprised if it had died of boredom itself no company except stupid people drumming their fingers on the glass trying to disturb it all day long. It was worse than having a cupboard as a bedroom, where the only visitor was Aunt Petunia hammering on the door to wake you up; at least he got to visit the rest of the house. The snake suddenly opened its beady eyes. Slowly, very slowly, it raised its head until its eyes were on a level with Harry's. **_**It winked.**_

"Harry, don't you dare." Hermione started.

**Harry stared. Then he looked quickly around to see if anyone was watching. They weren't. He looked back at the snake and winked, too.**

Hermione groaned, Harry laughed, "I didn't know."

"Only you Potter." Severus laughed.

** The snake jerked its head toward Uncle Vernon and Dudley, then raised its eyes to the ceiling. It gave Harry a look that said quite plainly: "**_**I get that all the time.**_**" **

** "I know," Harry murmured through the glass, though he wasn't sure the snake could hear him. "It must be really annoying." The snake nodded vigorously. "Where do you come from, anyway?" Harry asked. The snake jabbed its tail at a little sign next to the glass. Harry peered at it. Boa Constrictor, Brazil. "Was it nice there?" The boa constrictor jabbed its tail at the sign again and Harry read on: This specimen was bred in the zoo. "Oh, I see — so you've never been to Brazil?"**

"You are talking to a snake?" Lily asked.

Harry looked at her, "Is that a problem?"

Lily looked from him to James then Sirius before facing him again. "No I guess it isn't."

** As the snake shook its head, a deafening shout behind Harry made both of them jump. "DUDLEY! MR. DURSLEY! COME AND LOOK AT THIS SNAKE! YOU WON'T **_**BELIEVE **_**WHAT IT'S DOING!"**

** Dudley came waddling toward them as fast as he could. "Out of the way, you," he said, punching Harry in the ribs. Caught by surprise, Harry fell hard on the concrete floor. What came next happened so fast no one saw how it happened one second, Piers and Dudley were leaning right up close to the glass, the next, they had leapt back with howls of horror.**

"What happened?" Molly gasped, Harry glanced over at her and rolled his eyes.

** Harry sat up and gasped; the glass front of the boa constrictor's tank had vanished. The great snake was uncoiling itself rapidly, slithering out onto the floor. People throughout the reptile house screamed and started running for the exits.**

"Nice Harry, one night we are kidnapping you." Fred stated as George nodded.

Hermione glared at them, they almost took it back before she smirked, one worthy of Draco Malfoy. "Not without taking me you aren't."

The twins stared at her as smiles took over their faces. "Of course Mia."

** As the snake slid swiftly past him, Harry could have sworn a low, hissing voice said, "Brazil, here I come. . . . Thanksss, amigo."**

** The keeper of the reptile house was in shock. "But the glass," he kept saying, "where did the glass go?"**

** The zoo director himself made Aunt Petunia a cup of strong, sweet tea while he apologized over and over again. Piers and Dudley could only gibber. As far as Harry had seen, the snake hadn't done anything except snap playfully at their heels as it passed, but by the time they were all back in Uncle Vernon's car, Dudley was telling them how it had nearly bitten off his leg, while Piers was swearing it had tried to squeeze him to death. But worst of all, for Harry at least, was Piers calming down enough to say, "Harry was talking to it, weren't you, Harry?"**

Draco growled as Blaise muttered something that sounded like 'Slytherin welcome'.

** Uncle Vernon waited until Piers was safely out of the house before starting on Harry. He was so angry he could hardly speak. He managed to say, "Go... shed... stay," before he collapsed into a chair, and Aunt Petunia had to run and get him a large brandy.**

"Shed?" Hermione asked, she noticed Harry was shaking so she pulled him close.

** Harry stood there in the dark shed for what felt like hours before Vernon opened the door, glaring at him. He stepped inside, fliched on the light, opened up the secret staircase and pushed Harry down. Harry knew better then to move without being told, so he stayed as Vernon walked down the satirs, shut the door and walked over to a closet and pulled out a wip. "Undress boy, now." Harry stood up, undressed and stood there waiting for the pain he knew so well. Harry bit his lip as the first hit came to his back. **Alice's voices broke as she closed her eyes against the tears. **Harry stood only moving from the force of the hits, Harry lost trace at number twenty four because Vernon pushed him to the ground. Harry's hole body tensed as he heard shuffleing behind him. Vernon had never let him fall to the ground before, this was new and it scared him. Suddenly... **Alice broke off as she stared at the book.

"Alice what is it?" Lily asks as she moves over to see but Raven got there first.

Raven took the book as she stood behind Alice and read with a weak voice. **Suddenly there was the weight of Vernon's body ontop of Harry's, he couldn't breathe. "You deserve this boy. This will show you who the man is here. You will do as your told or this is what you will get." Harry was confused until Vernon slamed into Harry. Harry cried out as Vernon took his innocence from him there on the dirt floor in the dark shed. Harry cried out for a savior that never came. The pain was almost to much for Harry but then Vernon reached his climax and grunted as he relaxed against Harry. Vernon stood up, "Tell anyone what happened here and it will be worse next time boy. Get up, get dressed and go to your cupboard. No food until I say so. Remember no one is coming for you, you are mine to do with what I please." With that Vernon left Harry there.**

Raven handed the book back, glared at Albus and walked over to sit with Lucius, who sat there shock at what he just heard.

No one moved for a while, soon Harry was caught up in the tightest hugs and he heard promises of protection and revenge. About an hour later everyone calm down ad returned to their sits except Raven who was laying down beside Lucius, facing away from them. Lucius was watching her with a sad look on his face. He looked up and very quietly, "Severus, she is crying and digging into her skin, she is making herself bleed."

Severus pushed away from the table, walked over, picked her up and held her as he sat beside Lucius. "Young one, what has happened to you? Who are you that this effects you this way?" he whispered as he rocked her back and forth.

Jasper, Loki and Alex looked at each other and nodded. Loki sighed, "She is Raven Dora Potter." James stood up but Loki raised a hand to stop him. "Her parents are your parents, James. She is your sister, the one that was said to of died when the Deatheaters attacked but a deatheater took pity on her and kidnapped her. She was held captive in his house for years until we saved her."

"Who? Who had her?" James demanded softly.

"Rookwood." Jasper growled. "Please, this is hard for her. Lets continue, she will come back when she is ready." Everyone nodded but James watched her as Seveus held her.

** Harry had yet to move. Slowly he got up, got dressed and inched his way to his cupboard. Harry lay in his dark cupboard much later, wishing he had a watch. He didn't know what time it was and he couldn't be sure the Dursleys were asleep yet. Until they were, he couldn't risk sneaking to the kitchen for some food. He'd lived with the Dursleys almost ten years, ten miserable years, as long as he could remember, ever since he'd been a baby and his parents had died in that car crash. He couldn't remember being in the car when his parents had died. Sometimes, when he strained his memory during long hours in his cupboard, he came up with a strange vision: a blinding flash of green light and a burning pain on his forehead.**

"You shouldn't remember that." Raven whispered as she sat up slowly, thanked Severus and walked back over to the table. She went to James, he hugged her then she went back to her spot. "No one should remember that."

** This, he supposed, was the crash, though he couldn't imagine where all the green light came from. He couldn't remember his parents at all. His aunt and uncle never spoke about them, and of course he was forbidden to ask questions. There were no photographs of them in the house.**

** When he had been younger, Harry had dreamed and dreamed of some unknown relation coming to take him away, but it had never happened; the Dursleys were his only family. Yet sometimes he thought (or maybe hoped) that strangers in the street seemed to know him. Very strange strangers they were, too. A tiny man in a violet top hat had bowed to him once while out shopping with Aunt Petunia and Dudley. After asking Harry furiously if he knew the man, Aunt Petunia had rushed them out of the shop without buying anything. A wild-looking old woman dressed all in green had waved merrily at him once on a bus. A bald man in a very long purple coat had actually shaken his hand in the street the other day and then walked away without a word. The weirdest thing about all these people was the way they seemed to vanish the second Harry tried to get a closer look. At school, Harry had no one. Everybody knew that Dudley's gang hated that odd Harry Potter in his baggy old clothes and broken glasses, and nobody liked to disagree with Dudley's gang.**

"Well we do, I dare him to try it now." Draco growled as Alice handed the book to Frank.


	6. Chapter 6 Letter from no one

**Chapter 6 - Letters from No one**

**The escape of the Brazilian boa constrictor earned Harry his longest-ever punishment. By the time he was allowed out of his cupboard again, the summer holidays had started and Dudley had already broken his new video camera, crashed his remote control airplane, and, first time out on his racing bike, knocked down old Mrs. Figg as she crossed Privet Drive on her crutches. Harry was glad school was over, but there was no escaping Dudley's gang, who visited the house every single day. Piers, Dennis, Malcolm, and Gordon were all big and stupid, but as Dudley was the biggest and stupidest of the lot, he was the leader. The rest of them were all quite happy to join in Dudley's favorite sport: Harry Hunting.**

"That is not a sport!" Lily shouted.

** This was why Harry spent as much time as possible out of the house, wandering around and thinking about the end of the holidays, where he could see a tiny ray of hope. When September came he would be going off to secondary school and, for the first time in his life, he wouldn't be with Dudley. Dudley had been accepted at Uncle Vernon's old private school, Smeltings. Piers Polkiss was going there too. Harry, on the other hand, was going to Stonewall High, the local public school. Dudley thought this was very funny.**

** "They stuff people's heads down the toilet the first day at Stonewall," he told Harry. "Want to come upstairs and practice?"**

Sirius growled, "He better not."

** "No, thanks," said Harry. "The poor toilet's never had anything as horrible as your head down it — it might be sick." Then he ran, before Dudley could work out what he'd said.**

Fred and George laughed, Draco shake his head, "Nice one Harry."

** One day in July, Aunt Petunia took Dudley to London to buy his Smeltings uniform, leaving Harry at Mrs. Figg's. Mrs. Figg wasn't as bad as usual. It turned out she'd broken her leg tripping over one of her cats, and she didn't seem quite as fond of them as before. She let Harry watch television and gave him a bit of chocolate cake that tasted as though she'd had it for several years. That evening, Dudley paraded around the living room for the family in his brand-new uniform. Smeltings boys wore maroon tailcoats, orange knickerbockers, and flat straw hats called boaters. They also carried knobbly sticks, used for hitting each other while the teachers weren't looking. This was supposed to be good training for later life. As he looked at Dudley in his new knickerbockers, Uncle Vernon said gruffly that it was the proudest moment of his life. Aunt Petunia burst into tears and said she couldn't believe it was her Ickle Dudleykins, he looked so handsome and grown-up. Harry didn't trust himself to speak. He thought two of his ribs might already have cracked from trying not to laugh.**

** There was a horrible smell in the kitchen the next morning when Harry went in for breakfast. It seemed to be coming from a large metal tub in the sink. He went to have a look. The tub was full of what looked like dirty rags swimming in gray water. "What's this?" he asked Aunt Petunia. Her lips tightened as they always did if he dared to ask a question.**

** "Your new school uniform," she said.**

** Harry looked in the bowl again. "Oh," he said, "I didn't realize it had to be so wet."**

"Harry..." Hermione warned.

Harry shrugged, "I was ten."

** "Don't be stupid," snapped Aunt Petunia. "I'm dyeing some of Dudley's old things gray for you. It'll look just like everyone else's when I've finished." Harry seriously doubted this, but thought it best not to argue. He sat down at the table and tried not to think about how he was going to look on his first day at Stonewall High like he was wearing bits of old elephant skin, probably.**

** Dudley and Uncle Vernon came in, both with wrinkled noses because of the smell from Harry's new uniform. Uncle Vernon opened his newspaper as usual and Dudley banged his Smelting stick, which he carried everywhere, on the table. They heard the click of the mail slot and flop of letters on the doormat. "Get the mail, Dudley," said Uncle Vernon from behind his paper.**

** "Make Harry get it."**

** "Get the mail, Harry."**

** "Make Dudley get it."**

** "Poke him with your Smelting stick, Dudley." Harry dodged the Smelting stick and went to get the mail. Three things lay on the doormat: a postcard from Uncle Vernon's sister Marge, who was vacationing on the Isle of Wight, a brown envelope that looked like a bill, and... **_**a letter for Harry.**_

"Is that new to you Harry?" Neville asked, Harry nodded.

** Harry picked it up and stared at it, his heart twanging like a giant elastic band. No one, ever, in his whole life, had written to him. Who would? He had no friends, no other relatives — he didn't belong to the library, so he'd never even got rude notes asking for books back. Yet here it was, a letter, addressed so plainly there could be no mistake:**

_**Mr. H. Potter**_

_**The Cupboard under the Stairs**_

_**4 Privet Drive**_

_**Little Whinging**_

_**Surrey**_

** The envelope was thick and heavy, made of yellowish parchment, and the address was written in emerald-green ink. There was no stamp. Turning the envelope over, his hand trembling, Harry saw a purple wax seal bearing a coat of arms; a lion, an eagle, a badger, and a snake surrounding a large letter **_**H.**_

** "Hurry up, boy!" shouted Uncle Vernon from the kitchen. "What are you doing, checking for letter bombs?" He chuckled at his own joke.**

Fred and George became pale, "That was a joke?" they whispered.

"No, he just thought he was funny." Harry smiled at them.

** Harry went back to the kitchen, still staring at his letter. He handed Uncle Vernon the bill and the postcard, sat down, and slowly began to open the yellow envelope.**

"Harry, not there!" Sirius cried.

Harry laughed, "I know that now."

** Uncle Vernon ripped open the bill, snorted in disgust, and flipped over the postcard. "Marge's ill," he informed Aunt Petunia. "Ate a funny whelk . . ."**

** "Dad!" said Dudley suddenly. "Dad, Harry's got something!"**

** Harry was on the point of unfolding his letter, which was written on the same heavy parchment as the envelope, when it was jerked sharply out of his hand by Uncle Vernon. "That's **_**mine**_**!" said Harry, trying to snatch it back.**

** "Who'd be writing to you?" sneered Uncle Vernon, shaking the letter open with one hand and glancing at it. His face went from red to green faster than a set of traffic lights. And it didn't stop there. Within seconds it was the grayish white of old porridge. "P-P-Petunia!" he gasped.**

** Dudley tried to grab the letter to read it, but Uncle Vernon held it high out of his reach. Aunt Petunia took it curiously and read the first line. For a moment it looked as though she might faint. She clutched her throat and made a choking noise. "Vernon! Oh my goodness Vernon!"**

"Nightmares!" Harry shuddered.

** They stared at each other, seeming to have forgotten that Harry and Dudley were still in the room. Dudley wasn't used to being ignored. He gave his father a sharp tap on the head with his Smelting stick. "I want to read that letter," he said loudly.**

** "**_**I **_**want to read it," said Harry furiously, "as it's **_**mine.**_**"**

"Oh no!" Draco cried in mock horror.

Hermione gasps, "It is coming..."

"Every one run for cover." Neville pretended to faint.

Luna began to shake, "We will never make it in time..."

** "Get out, both of you," croaked Uncle Vernon, stuffing the letter back inside its envelope.**

"Save yourselves..." George began.

Fred began to fake cry. "it's to late for us."

"It's the Harry Potter rage!" Blaise cried out as he hide behind Luna. Harry glared at them.

** Harry didn't move. "I WANT MY LETTER!" he shouted.**

The seven teens gasped and pretended to fall out of their chairs. Harry growled, "It is not that bad."

"Really Harry? Third year, Hogsmeade, in front of the Shrieking shack." Hermione whispered.

"Second year, Field, almost knocking off my broom." Draco whispered, all the teens minus the twins flinched.

"This year, Umbridge's class, ALL YEAR!" Neville stressed.

Harry sighed, "Okay, Okay I get it. I have a bad temper. At least I didn't set a teacher on fire!"

"Harry!" Hermione growled. "We will deal with that when it comes. Please continue Mr. Longbottom."

** "Let **_**me **_**see it!" demanded Dudley.**

** "OUT!" roared Uncle Vernon, and he took both Harry and Dudley by the scruffs of their necks and threw them into the hall, slamming the kitchen door behind them. Harry and Dudley promptly had a furious but silent fight over who would listen at the keyhole; Dudley won, so Harry, his glasses dangling from one ear, lay flat on his stomach to listen at the crack between door and floor.**

"Floors better anyways if you want to catch everything." Draco whispered, Hermione nodded.

** "Vernon," Aunt Petunia was saying in a quivering voice, "look at the address how could they possibly know where he sleeps? You don't think they're watching the house?"**

** "Watching, spying, might be following us," muttered Uncle Vernon wildly.**

** "But what should we do, Vernon? Should we write back? Tell them we don't want... " Harry could see Uncle Vernon's shiny black shoes pacing up and down the kitchen.**

** "No," he said finally. "No, we'll ignore it. If they don't get an answer. . . . Yes, that's best . . . we won't do anything. . . ."**

** "But..."**

** "I'm not having one in the house, Petunia! Didn't we swear when we took him in we'd stamp out that dangerous nonsense?"**

"Stomp it out!" Jasper shouted, he growled so loud that it shook the room. When he looked up at Albus, his eyes were bright yellow and his teeth sharpened. "They wanted to STOMP it out! You left him there!" Jasper lunged at Albus but Raven jumped up and pushed him back. Alex and Loki grabbed his arms as Raven moved away from the table and turned into a giant snow white Arctic wolf. The wolf growled and jumped at Jasper, taking him to the ground. Alex and Loki looked at each other as Jasper shifted into a white Tiger, Alex jumped as shifted in the air in to a black Pegasus while Loki shifted into a lion. They all cornered the Tiger into a corner until he began to calm down. The Tiger sat on his hind legs and whined.

Raven shifted back, walked over to Harry and lifted him to his feet. "Jasper, look! He is right here. Our cub is just fine, relax. It is two days before the full moon, you are over emotional. Come on Tig, calm down. Come back." The tiger growled at her, she sighed. "Damn it. Loki?"

The lion tilted his head, walked over to Sirius and poked him with his nose. Sirius looked at the lion to Raven, "What does he want?"

"You to calm Jasper down." she whispered.

"How do I do that?"

"The same way you would Regulus, he is your nephew. Jasper Sirius Black, son of Regulus Black and Trinian LeStrange." Regulus gasped. "Reg dead before he was born, Trinian died giving birth to him so all he has ever known is his aunts Bellatrix and Narcissa and his uncle Sirius." Raven looked down at his hands. Sirius stood up, walked over to the tiger, who growled and backed up.

"It is okay, pup. I am not going to hurt you. I am just going to sit down, okay." Sirius sat down, the tiger watched him and very slowly made his way over to lay his head and Sirius' lap. "Frank, continue."

** That evening when he got back from work, Uncle Vernon did something he'd never done before; he visited Harry in his cupboard. "Where's my letter?" said Harry, the moment Uncle Vernon had squeezed through the door. "Who's writing to me?"**

** "No one. It was addressed to you by mistake," said Uncle Vernon shortly. "I have burned it."**

** "It was **_**not **_**a mistake," said Harry angrily, "it had my cupboard on it."**

** "SILENCE!" yelled Uncle Vernon, and a couple of spiders fell from the ceiling. He took a few deep breaths and then forced his face into a smile, which looked quite painful. "Er — yes, Harry — about this cupboard. Your aunt and I have been thinking . . . you're really getting a bit big for it . . . we think it might be nice if you moved into Dudley's second bedroom."**

"They had a second unused bedroom this whole time!?" Lily screamed.

** "Why?" said Harry.**

"Constant Vigilance!" Raven and Loki shouted, causing everyone to jump. Moody nodded and the tiger made a noise that sounded like a laugh.

** "Don't ask questions!" snapped his uncle. "Take this stuff upstairs, now."**

** The Dursleys' house had four bedrooms: one for Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia, one for visitors (usually Uncle Vernon's sister, Marge), one where Dudley slept, and one where Dudley kept all the toys and things that wouldn't fit into his first bedroom. It only took Harry one trip upstairs to move everything he owned from the cupboard to this room. He sat down on the bed and stared around him. Nearly everything in here was broken. The month-old video camera was lying on top of a small, working tank Dudley had once driven over the next door neighbor's dog; in the corner was Dudley's first-ever television set, which he'd put his foot through when his favorite program had been canceled; there was a large birdcage, which had once held a parrot that Dudley had swapped at school for a real air rifle, which was up on a shelf with the end all bent because Dudley had sat on it. Other shelves were full of books. They were the only things in the room that looked as though they'd never been touched. From downstairs came the sound of Dudley bawling at his mother, "I don't **_**want **_**him in there . . . I **_**need **_**that room . . . make him get out. . . ." Harry sighed and stretched out on the bed. Yesterday he'd have given anything to be up here. Today he'd rather be back in his cupboard with that letter than up here without it.**

** Next morning at breakfast, everyone was rather quiet. Dudley was in shock. He'd screamed, whacked his father with his Smelting stick, been sick on purpose, kicked his mother, and thrown his tortoise through the greenhouse roof, and he still didn't have his room back. Harry was thinking about this time yesterday and bitterly wishing he'd opened the letter in the hall. Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia kept looking at each other darkly.**

** When the mail arrived, Uncle Vernon, who seemed to be trying to be nice to Harry, made Dudley go and get it. They heard him banging things with his Smelting stick all the way down the hall. Then he shouted, "There's another one! 'Mr. H. Potter, The Smallest Bedroom, 4 Privet Drive...' "**

"Idiot." Blaise whispered.

** With a strangled cry, Uncle Vernon leapt from his seat and ran down the hall, Harry right behind him. Uncle Vernon had to wrestle Dudley to the ground to get the letter from him, which was made difficult by the fact that Harry had grabbed Uncle Vernon around the neck from behind.**

"Getting some practice in for later?" Hermione laughed.

** After a minute of confused fighting, in which everyone got hit a lot by the Smelting stick, Uncle Vernon straightened up, gasping for breath, with Harry's letter clutched in his hand. "Go to your cupboard I mean, your bedroom," he wheezed at Harry. "Dudley go just go."**

** Harry walked round and round his new room. Someone knew he had moved out of his cupboard and they seemed to know he hadn't received his first letter. Surely that meant they'd try again? And this time he'd make sure they didn't fail. He had a plan.**

"Oh no." Hermione and Neville groaned.

"Shut up." Harry glared at them.

"You have to admit darlin', your plans don't go well unless they are last minutes plans." Loki commented, Harry blushed and looked away.

** The repaired alarm clock rang at six o'clock the next morning. Harry turned it off quickly and dressed silently He mustn't wake the Dursleys. He stole downstairs without turning on any of the lights. **

"Good so far." Neville whispered, Harry reached over and hit him.

** He was going to wait for the postman on the corner of Privet Drive and get the letters for number four first. His heart hammered as he crept across the dark hall toward the front door... "AAAAARRRGH!"**

"Please be his face, Please be his face, Please be his..." Hermione chanted but stop when everyone looked at her, she shrugged. "What?"

**Harry leapt into the air; he'd trodden on something big and squashy on the doormat, something **_**alive**_**! Lights clicked on upstairs and to his horror Harry realized that the big, squashy something had been his uncle's face.**

"YES!" Hermione shouted jumping up and down. The Weasley twins laughed along with the other but the adults saw the look of hunger in their eyes.

** Uncle Vernon had been lying at the foot of the front door in a sleeping bag, clearly making sure that Harry didn't do exactly what he'd been trying to do. He shouted at Harry for about half an hour as he wiped him with his belt then told him to go and make a cup of tea. Harry shuffled miserably off into the kitchen and by the time he got back, the mail had arrived, right into Uncle Vernon's lap. Harry could see three letters addressed in green ink. "I want..." he began, but Uncle Vernon was tearing the letters into pieces before his eyes.**

"Jerk." Luna whispered as she placed her head on Blaise's shoulder.

** Uncle Vernon didn't go to work that day. He stayed at home and nailed up the mail slot. "See," he explained to Aunt Petunia through a mouthful of nails, "if they can't **_**deliver **_**them they'll just give up."**

** "I'm not sure that'll work, Vernon."**

** "Oh, these peoples minds work in strange ways, Petunia, they're not like you and me," said Uncle Vernon, trying to knock in a nail with the piece of fruitcake Aunt Petunia had just brought him.**

** On Friday, no less than twelve letters arrived for Harry. As they couldn't go through the mail slot they had been pushed under the door, slotted through the sides, and a few even forced through the small window in the downstairs bathroom. Uncle Vernon stayed at home again. After burning all the letters, he got out a hammer and nails and boarded up the cracks around the front and back doors so no one could go out. He hummed "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" as he worked, and jumped at small noises.**

** On Saturday, things began to get out of hand.**

"Began to..." George looked at Harry.

"get out of hand." Fred laughed.

** Twenty-four letters to Harry found their way into the house, rolled up and hidden inside each of the two dozen eggs that their very confused milkman had handed Aunt Petunia through the living room window. While Uncle Vernon made furious telephone calls to the post office and the dairy trying to find someone to complain to, Aunt Petunia shredded the letters in her food processor. "Who on earth wants to talk to **_**you **_**this badly?" Dudley asked Harry in amazement.**

"Everyone with a brain." Draco whispered, Harry laughed. "Shut up Harry, yes I sent you letters to."

**On Sunday morning, Uncle Vernon sat down at the breakfast table looking tired and rather ill, but happy. "No post on Sundays," he reminded them cheerfully as he spread marmalade on his newspapers, "no damn letters today..."**

"He's cracked." Gideon stated.

Fred looked at his uncle and nodded, "For the marmalade on the newspaper or the no post on Sundays?"

Gideon looked at Fred and smiled, "For thinking he could out smart Minnie."

** Something came whizzing down the kitchen chimney as he spoke and caught him sharply on the back of the head. Next moment, thirty or forty letters came pelting out of the fireplace like bullets. The Dursleys ducked, but Harry leapt into the air trying to catch one... "Out! OUT!"**

"Harry, the air?" Hermione groaned.

Draco smirked, "It's reflex for us."

Harry nodded, "I didn't even think, just jumped."

** Uncle Vernon seized Harry around the waist and threw him into the hall. When Aunt Petunia and Dudley had run out with their arms over their faces, Uncle Vernon slammed the door shut. They could hear the letters still streaming into the room, bouncing off the walls and floor. "That does it," said Uncle Vernon, trying to speak calmly but pulling great tufts out of his mustache at the same time. "I want you all back here in five minutes ready to leave. We're going away. Just pack some clothes. No arguments!" He looked so dangerous with half his mustache missing that no one dared argue. Ten minutes later they had wrenched their way through the boarded-up doors and were in the car, speeding toward the highway. Dudley was sniffling in the back seat; his father had hit him round the head for holding them up while he tried to pack his television, VCR, and computer in his sports bag. They drove. And they drove. Even Aunt Petunia didn't dare ask where they were going. Every now and then Uncle Vernon would take a sharp turn and drive in the opposite direction for a while. "Shake 'em off . . . shake 'em off," he would mutter whenever he did this.**

** They didn't stop to eat or drink all day. By nightfall Dudley was howling. He'd never had such a bad day in his life. He was hungry, he'd missed five television programs he'd wanted to see, and he'd never gone so long without blowing up an alien on his computer. Uncle Vernon stopped at last outside a gloomy-looking hotel on the outskirts of a big city. Dudley and Harry shared a room with twin beds and damp, musty sheets. Dudley snored but Harry stayed awake, sitting on the windowsill, staring down at the lights of passing cars and wondering. . . . They ate stale cornflakes and cold tinned tomatoes on toast for breakfast the next day. They had just finished when the owner of the hotel came over to their table. " 'Scuse me, but is one of you Mr. H. Potter? Only I got about an 'undred of these at the front desk." She held up a letter so they could read the green ink address:**

_**Mr. H. Potter**_

_**Room 17**_

_**Railview Hotel**_

_**Cokeworth**_

** Harry made a grab for the letter but Uncle Vernon knocked his hand out of the way. The woman stared. "I'll take them," said Uncle Vernon, standing up quickly and following her from the dining room.**

** "Wouldn't it be better just to go home, dear?" Aunt Petunia suggested timidly, hours later, but Uncle Vernon didn't seem to hear her. Exactly what he was looking for, none of them knew. He drove them into the middle of a forest, got out, looked around, shook his head, got back in the car, and off they went again. The same thing happened in the middle of a plowed field, halfway across a suspension bridge, and at the top of a multilevel parking garage.**

** "Daddy's gone mad, hasn't he?" Dudley asked Aunt Petunia dully late that afternoon. Uncle Vernon had parked at the coast, locked them all inside the car, and disappeared. It started to rain. Great drops beat on the roof of the car. Dudley sniveled. "It's Monday," he told his mother. "The Great Humberto's on tonight. I want to stay somewhere with a **_**television.**_**"**

"Aw poor thing, your just going to die aren't you?" Alice growled.

** Monday. This reminded Harry of something. If it **_**was **_**Monday and you could usually count on Dudley to know the days of the week, because of television — then tomorrow, Tuesday, was Harry's eleventh birthday. Of course, his birthdays were never exactly fun last year, the Dursleys had given him a coat hanger and a pair of Uncle Vernon's old socks. Still, you weren't eleven every day.**

"Happy Birthday Harry!" Draco, Neville, Luna, Blaise, Hermione and the Twins yelled.

"A coat hanger and a pair of old socks?" Lily whimpered.

Harry looked at his mom, " I didn't get presents until I came to Hogwarts. It is okay."

"No it isn't Potter." Severus snapped as he glared at Albus.

** Uncle Vernon was back and he was smiling. He was also carrying a long, thin package**

"Tell me that is not what I think it is?" Hermione whispered, Harry looked at her and gave her a small smile.

** and didn't answer Aunt Petunia when she asked what he'd bought. "Found the perfect place!" he said. "Come on! Everyone out!" It was very cold outside the car. Uncle Vernon was pointing at what looked like a large rock way out at sea. Perched on top of the rock was the most miserable little shack you could imagine. One thing was certain, there was no television in there. "Storm forecast for tonight!" said Uncle Vernon gleefully, clapping his hands together. "And this gentleman's kindly agreed to lend us his boat!" A toothless old man came ambling up to them, pointing, with a rather wicked grin, at an old rowboat bobbing in the iron-gray water below them. "I've already got us some rations," said Uncle Vernon, "so all aboard!"**

** It was freezing in the boat. Icy sea spray and rain crept down their necks and a chilly wind whipped their faces. After what seemed like hours they reached the rock, where Uncle Vernon, slipping and sliding, led the way to the broken-down house. The inside was horrible; it smelled strongly of seaweed, the wind whistled through the gaps in the wooden walls, and the fireplace was damp and empty. There were only two rooms. Uncle Vernon's rations turned out to be a bag of chips each and four bananas. He tried to start a fire but the empty chip bags just smoked and shriveled up. "Could do with some of those letters now, eh?" he said cheerfully. He was in a very good mood. Obviously he thought nobody stood a chance of reaching them here in a storm to deliver mail. Harry privately agreed, though the thought didn't cheer him up at all.**

** As night fell, the promised storm blew up around them. Spray from the high waves splattered the walls of the hut and a fierce wind rattled the filthy windows. Aunt Petunia found a few moldy blankets in the second room and made up a bed for Dudley on the moth-eaten sofa. She and Uncle Vernon went off to the lumpy bed next door, and Harry was left to find the softest bit of floor he could and to curl up under the thinnest, most ragged blanket. **

"This is why you were the smallest, skinniest and whitest child in our year, isn't it?" Draco asked, Harry nodded.

** The storm raged more and more ferociously as the night went on. Harry couldn't sleep. He shivered and turned over, trying to get comfortable, his stomach rumbling with hunger. Dudley's snores were drowned by the low rolls of thunder that started near midnight. The lighted dial of Dudley's watch, which was dangling over the edge of the sofa on his fat wrist, told Harry he'd be eleven in ten minutes' time. He lay and watched his birthday tick nearer, wondering if the Dursleys would remember at all, wondering where the letter writer was now.**

** Five minutes to go. Harry heard something creak outside. He hoped the roof wasn't going to fall in, although he might be warmer if it did. Four minutes to go. Maybe the house in Privet Drive would be so full of letters when they got back that he'd be able to steal one somehow. Three minutes to go. Was that the sea, slapping hard on the rock like that? And (two minutes to go) what was that funny crunching noise? Was the rock crumbling into the sea? One minute to go and he'd be eleven. Thirty seconds . . . twenty . . . ten . . . nine — maybe he'd wake Dudley up, just to annoy him — three . . . two . . . one . . . BOOM.**

"What? What happened?" James demanded.

** The whole shack shivered and Harry sat bolt upright, staring at the door. Someone was outside, knocking to come in.**

"Who?" James panicked.

"Dad! I am okay." Harry spoke.

Raven smiled softly at her brother and nephew. "I think we should take a break. Severus, there is a room in the back that you can use. Sirius, I will take Jasper, you go with them. Remus, you should too. Loki and Alex, why don't you, Draco and Mia have a chat with Lucius." Raven got up and walked over to switch places with Sirius. Sirius, Remus, James, Lily and Harry followed Severus in to a small room off to the side. Padfoot, Moony, Regulus and Sev sat down to themselves and talked about their problems. The Weasley twins began to asked the Prewett twins questions. Neville sat off to talk with his parents. Luna sat down with Charlie to ask him about Dragons, her secret obsession as Blaise and Draco walked over to Loki and Alex. The four walked over and sat down to talk to Lucius as Bill sat down catching up with Percy and his parents.


	7. Chapter 7 The Keeper of the Keys

**Chapter 7 - The Keeper of the Keys**

**In the sound proof room**

Harry stood nervous as everyone stared at him. Lily hugged him, "Honey it is okay, we just need to know some things and how you really are okay. I promise, I will be here the whole time."

"Potte... Harry drink this. If you fill any pain, you tell me, is that understood?" Severus asked, Harry nodded before he drank the liquid he was given. It tasted like cotton candy and pickles. He closed his eyes, shook his head then looked at Severus. "Okay Harry, sit down." As he did Severus waved his wand over him and a bright yellow light appeared and covered Harry before disappearing. Suddenly a long parchment appeared out of no where and Severus took it in to his hands and began to read. Full body and magical scan done on Harry James Potter. Cast by Severus Snape.

**Body:**

Severe starvation

Lacerations on back and chest

Old broken wrist

Broken leg

Welts on back

Dog bite to both legs

Rape

Broken ribs

Severe headache

Minor bleeding from lightning bolt scar

Magical Core nearly drained

Coma

Severe starvation

Sun burn to back of the neck

Minor bump on the head

Minor Concussion

Broken right arm

Right arm de-boned (fixed with Skelegrow)

Same arm punctured by a foot-long Basilisk fang

"Sorry what?" Remus shouted looking at Harry with fear in his eyes as was everyone in the room.

"Second year." Harry said simply. Making everyone look at her in fear. "You'll find out at the end of the next book."

Same arm punctured by a foot-long Basilisk fang (fixed with Phoenix tears)

Attacked by Dementors multiple times.

Broken ribs

Attacked by the Whomping Willow

Almost kissed by dementors

Everyone in the room turned pale and looked over at Harry to make sure he was still here.

Scar irritation

Starvation

Put under the Imperious Curse

Broken Leg

Lash to right forearm

Put under the Cruciartus Curse three times

"WHAT!" shouted everyone in the room.

"I-it was w-when I was in the g-grave y-yard l-last y-year." Harry said trying to fight back the tears. James pulled his son into a hug as he could no longer hold back the tears, he was struggling to hold back his own tears but he promised himself he was going to be strong for his son he couldn't believe how much he had gone through he was only fifteen for Merlin's sake. He then nodded to Severus to tell him to carry on.

Put under the Imperious Curse

Concussion

Attacked by Dementors

Starvation

**Magic:**

Multiple Animagus forms: Forms Ice Phoenix, Black Wolf and Snake: Fully blocked

Wandless and Wordless Magic: Fully blocked

Mage Sight and Sense Magic: Fully blocked

Parselmagic: Partially blocked

Natural Occulumency/Legilimency: Fully blocked

"That's all of it." Severus whispered. No one moved as Harry moved away from them to stand off to the side. James took a step but Severus stopped him, Severus went to sit beside where Harry stood. "Potter, sit." Harry gulped but sat beside him. Severus sighed. "I hated you because I thought you were spoiled like your father, I believed that you were an arrogant, self center prat but I am seeing not that that is not true. You hate your fame, with good reason. You want to left alone, you aren't use to people caring or even wanting to be around you but you don't want to hurt anyone to just come right out and tell them. You can't keep it in Harry, it will slowly destroy you. I know what you feel, believe me when I say I wish I didn't. No one should have to go through the things we have gone through but if you even need to talk or advice, the best people to talk to about this is myself and Sirius. As both of us have gone through it ourselves, no matter what Sirius hides from the world, you can see it in his face. Those monsters will get what they deserve. Your parents, godfather, uncles and friends care about you very much. If you will let me, I would like us to start over from here, I will treat you the way I should have from the beginning. Don't give up, Harry. It is to dark on this side."

Harry looked at him and began to cry, Severus pulled him over into his side and Harry just held on. "I always thought it way my fault, that I deserved it."

"Never Potter, they are monsters and you are innocent. No one deserves that, no one." Severus whispered as he held Harry to his side. "Remus, we should get Bill in here, he would be the best to brake the blocked magic." Remus nodded and left the room. Sirius paced the floor as James held on to Lily, Remus brought Bill in with him and Raven followed behind them. Sirius looked at her.

"Jasper is calm and back to himself, he is talking to Lucius." she whispered as she walked to Harry. She held out her hand, helped him to his feet and hugged him as Bill looked over the list. Bill gasped but kept control. He turned to Harry, pointed his wand and whispered two words the Harry couldn't really make out. Harry gasped as he felt a slight pain run through his body, Raven held him still as he arched in her arms. "Shh, it will be okay. It is almost over Harry. I promise."

When Harry relaxed she handed him over to James and they walked out of the room. Everyone was sitting in their spots, waiting on them. Hermione looked up at him. "Harry are you okay?"

"Yeah, I am fin... no I am not but I will be Mia." he whispered as he sat with his parents, she nodded. "Whose turn is it?"

"Yours but first." Raven answered. "Jasper?"

"He knows that Voldemort has something planned with the prophecy and he knows that he can push thoughts into Harry's head so he needs to control that fast." Jasper whispered. "Before anyone asks, yes I am an Animagus but I am also a werewolf." Remus gasps, "It takes a lot of practice but it helps with the pain of shifting and helps me keep my humanity during the full moon. Remus, if you want I can help you."

"Thank you." Remus whispered.

Harry grabs the book from the table and smiles, "Remus and anyone else with sensitive hearing, cover your ears. It gets loud." Remus, Hermione, Draco, Sirius, Padfoot, Moony and the four teens covered their ears. **BOOM. They knocked again. Dudley jerked awake. "Where's the cannon?" he said stupidly.**

** There was a crash behind them and Uncle Vernon came skidding into the room. He was holding a rifle in his hands, now they knew what had been in the long, thin package he had brought with them. "Who's there?" he shouted. "I warn you, I'm armed!"**

"A gun! Is he crazy?" Hermione screamed.

** There was a pause. Then — SMASH! The door was hit with such force that it swung clean off its hinges and with a deafening crash landed flat on the floor. A giant of a man was standing in the doorway. His face was almost completely hidden by a long, shaggy mane of hair and a wild, tangled beard, but you could make out his eyes, glinting like black beetles under all the hair. The giant squeezed his way into the hut, stooping so that his head just brushed the ceiling. He bent down, picked up the door, and fitted it easily back into its frame. The noise of the storm outside dropped a little. He turned to look at them all. "Couldn't make us a cup o' tea, could yeh? It's not been an easy journey. . . ." He strode over to the sofa where Dudley sat frozen with fear. "Budge up, yeh great lump," said the stranger. Dudley squeaked and ran to hide behind his mother, who was crouching, terrified, behind Uncle Vernon. "An' here's Harry!" said the giant. Harry looked up into the fierce, wild, shadowy face and saw that the beetle eyes were crinkled in a smile. "Las' time I saw you, you was only a baby," said the giant. "Yeh look a lot like yer dad, but yeh've got yer mom's eyes."**

** Uncle Vernon made a funny rasping noise. "I demand that you leave at once, sir!" he said. "You are breaking and entering!"**

** "Ah, shut up, Dursley, yeh great prune,"**

"So that's why you were laughing Darlin'?" Loki smirked causing Harry to blush, Sirius and James looked at each other and nodded.

** said the giant; he reached over the back of the sofa, jerked the gun out of Uncle Vernon's hands, bent it into a knot as easily as if it had been made of rubber, and threw it into a corner of the room. Uncle Vernon made another funny noise, like a mouse being trodden on. "Anyway — Harry," said the giant, turning his back on the Dursleys, "a very happy birthday to yeh. Got summat fer yeh here — I mighta sat on it at some point, but it'll taste all right." **

** From an inside pocket of his black overcoat he pulled a slightly squashed box. Harry opened it with trembling fingers. Inside was a large, sticky chocolate cake with **_**Happy Birthday Harry **_**written on it in green icing. Harry looked up at the giant. He meant to say thank you, but the words got lost on the way to his mouth, and what he said instead was, "Who are you?"**

"Harry!" Hermione groaned.

"I was in shock, give me a break." He shrugged.

** The giant chuckled. "True, I haven't introduced meself. Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts." He held out an enormous hand and shook Harry's whole arm. "What about that tea then, eh?" he said, rubbing his hands together. "I'd not say no ter summat stronger if yeh've got it, mind." His eyes fell on the empty grate with the shriveled chip bags in it and he snorted. He bent down over the fireplace; they couldn't see what he was doing but when he drew back a second later, there was a roaring fire there. It filled the whole damp hut with flickering light and Harry felt the warmth wash over him as though he'd sunk into a hot bath.**

** The giant sat back down on the sofa, which sagged under his weight, and began taking all sorts of things out of the pockets of his coat: a copper kettle, a squashy package of sausages, a poker, a teapot, several chipped mugs, and a bottle of some amber liquid that he took a swig from before starting to make tea. Soon the hut was full of the sound and smell of sizzling sausage. Nobody said a thing while the giant was working, but as he slid the first six fat, juicy, slightly burnt sausages from the poker, Dudley fidgeted a little. Uncle Vernon said sharply, "Don't touch anything he gives you, Dudley."**

"Like he needs it!" Draco spat, Harry laughed.

** The giant chuckled darkly. "Yer great puddin' of a son don' need fattenin' anymore, Dursley, don' worry." He passed the sausages to Harry, who was so hungry he had never tasted anything so wonderful, but he still couldn't take his eyes off the giant.**

"Sweet! I think like Hagrid!" Draco air pumped.

** Finally, as nobody seemed about to explain anything, he said, "I'm sorry, but I still don't really know who you are."**

** The giant took a gulp of tea and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "Call me Hagrid," he said, "everyone does. An' like I told yeh, I'm Keeper of Keys at Hogwarts — yeh'll know all about Hogwarts, o' course."**

** "Er — no," said Harry. Hagrid looked shocked. "Sorry," Harry said quickly.**

** "**_**Sorry**_**?" barked Hagrid, turning to stare at the Dursleys, who shrank back into the shadows. "It's them as should be sorry! I knew yeh weren't gettin' yer letters but I never thought yeh wouldn't even know abou' Hogwarts, fer cryin' out loud! Did yeh never wonder where yer parents learned it all?"**

** "All what?" asked Harry.**

"Oh, Hagrid wont like that." Remus stated.

** "ALL WHAT?" Hagrid thundered. "Now wait jus' one second!" He had leapt to his feet. In his anger he seemed to fill the whole hut. The Dursleys were cowering against the wall. "Do you mean ter tell me," he growled at the Dursleys, "that this boy — this boy! — knows nothin' abou' — about ANYTHING?"**

** Harry thought this was going a bit far. He had been to school, after all, and his marks weren't bad. "I know **_**some **_**things," he said. "I can, you know, do math and stuff."**

"And stuff?"

"In shock!"

** But Hagrid simply waved his hand and said, "About **_**our **_**world, I mean. **_**Your **_**world. **_**My **_**world. **_**Yer parents' world.**_**" **

** "What world?" Hagrid looked as if he was about to explode.**

** "DURSLEY!" he boomed. Uncle Vernon, who had gone very pale, whispered something that sounded like "Mimblewimble." Hagrid stared wildly at Harry. "But yeh must know about yer mom and dad," he said. "I mean, they're **_**famous. **_**You're **_**famous.**_**"**

** "What? My... my mom and dad weren't famous, were they?"**

** "Yeh don' know . . . yeh don' know . . ." Hagrid ran his fingers through his hair, fixing Harry with a bewildered stare. "Yeh don' know what yeh **_**are**_**?" he said finally.**

** Uncle Vernon suddenly found his voice. "Stop!" he commanded. "Stop right there, sir! I forbid you to tell the boy anything!"**

** A braver man than Vernon Dursley would have quailed under the furious look Hagrid now gave him; when Hagrid spoke, his every syllable trembled with rage. "You never told him? Never told him what was in the letter Dumbledore left fer him? I was there! I saw Dumbledore leave it, Dursley! An' you've kept it from him all these years?"**

** "Kept **_**what **_**from me?" said Harry eagerly. **

** "STOP! I FORBID YOU!" yelled Uncle Vernon in panic. Aunt Petunia gave a gasp of horror.**

** "Ah, go boil yer heads, both of yeh," said Hagrid. "Harry — yer a wizard." There was silence inside the hut. Only the sea and the whistling wind could be heard.**

** "I'm a **_**what**_**?" gasped Harry.**

** "A wizard, o' course," said Hagrid, sitting back down on the sofa, which groaned and sank even lower, "an' a thumpin' good'un, I'd say, once yeh've been trained up a bit. With a mum an' dad like yours, what else would yeh be? An' I reckon it's abou' time yeh read yer letter."**

"Finally!" Both sets of twins cried out, laughing at each other.

** Harry stretched out his hand at last to take the yellowish envelope, addressed in emerald green to Mr. H. Potter, The Floor, Huton- the-Rock, The Sea. He pulled out the letter and read:**

_**HOGWARTS SCHOOL**_

_**of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY**_

_**Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore**_

_**(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock,**_

_**Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards )**_

_**Dear Mr. Potter,**_

_**We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted**_

_**at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please**_

_**find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.**_

_**Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no**_

_**later than July 31.**_

_**Yours sincerely,**_

_**Minerva McGonagall,**_

_**Deputy Headmistress**_

** Questions exploded inside Harry's head like fireworks and he couldn't decide which to ask first. After a few minutes he stammered, "What does it mean, they await my owl?"**

"Good question... I would have asked why Albus has six titles and Minnie only has one but yours was smarter." Draco smirked, Harry shrugged.

** "Gallopin' Gorgons, that reminds me," said Hagrid, clapping a hand to his forehead with enough force to knock over a cart horse, and from yet another pocket inside his overcoat he pulled an owl — a real, live, rather ruffled-looking owl — a long quill, and a roll of parchment. With his tongue between his teeth he scribbled a note that Harry could read upside down:**

"You can read that?!" Draco, Hermione, Neville the Twins and the adults ask. Harry nodded.

_**Dear Professor Dumbledore,**_

_**Given Harry his letter.**_

_**Taking him to buy his things tomorrow.**_

_**Weather's horrible. Hope you're well.**_

_**Hagrid**_

** Hagrid rolled up the note, gave it to the owl, which clamped it in its beak, went to the door, and threw the owl out into the storm. Then he came back and sat down as though this was as normal as talking on the telephone. Harry realized his mouth was open and closed it quickly. "Where was I?" said Hagrid, but at that moment, Uncle Vernon, still ashen-faced but looking very angry, moved into the firelight.**

** "He's not going," he said.**

** Hagrid grunted. "I'd like ter see a great Muggle like you stop him," he said.**

** "A what?" said Harry, interested.**

** "A Muggle," said Hagrid, "it's what we call nonmagic folk like them. An' it's your bad luck you grew up in a family o' the biggest Muggles I ever laid eyes on."**

** "We swore when we took him in we'd put a stop to that rubbish," said Uncle Vernon, "swore we'd stamp it out of him! Wizard indeed!"**

Jasper growled, Raven sighed scooted over and sat in his lap. He glared at her. "Don't look at me like that, if anyone else had done this, you would attack them."

"With his mouth." Alex whispered, Jasper growled and hit him in the shoulder.

** "You **_**knew**_**?" said Harry. "You **_**knew **_**I'm a — a wizard?"**

** "Knew!" shrieked Aunt Petunia suddenly. "**_**Knew**_**! Of course we knew! How could you not be, my dratted sister being what she was? Oh, she got a letter just like that and disappeared off to that — that **_**school **_**— and came home every vacation with her pockets full of frog spawn, turning teacups into rats. I was the only one who saw her for what she was — a freak! But for my mother and father, oh no, it was Lily this and Lily that, they were proud of having a witch in the family!"**

** She stopped to draw a deep breath and then went ranting on. It seemed she had been wanting to say all this for years. "Then she met that Potter**

Raven growled, "There is nothing wrong with him." James smiled at her.

**at school and they left and got married and had you, and of course I knew you'd be just the same, just as strange, just as — as — **_**abnormal **_**— and then, if you please, she went and got herself blown up and we got landed with you!"**

** Harry had gone very white. As soon as he found his voice he said, "Blown up? You told me they died in a car crash!"**

** "CAR CRASH!" roared Hagrid, jumping up so angrily that the Dursleys scuttled back to their corner. "How could a car crash kill Lily an' James Potter? It's an outrage! A scandal! Harry Potter not knowin' his own story when every kid in our world knows his name!"**

** "But why? What happened?" Harry asked urgently. The anger faded from Hagrid's face. He looked suddenly anxious.**

** "I never expected this," he said, in a low, worried voice. "I had no idea, when Dumbledore told me there might be trouble gettin' hold of yeh, how much yeh didn't know. Ah, Harry, I don' know if I'm the right person ter tell yeh but someone's gotta yeh can't go off ter Hogwarts not knowin'."**

"Oh, that would have sucked." Draco whispered.

"Just imagine that, the horror." Hermione shook her head.

** He threw a dirty look at the Dursleys. "Well, it's best yeh know as much as I can tell yeh — mind, I can't tell yeh everythin', it's a great myst'ry, parts of it. . . ." He sat down, stared into the fire for a few seconds, and then said, "It begins, I suppose, with — with a person called — but it's incredible yeh don't know his name, everyone in our world knows..."**

** "Who?"**

** "Well I don' like sayin' the name if I can help it. No one does."**

** "Why not?"**

** "Gulpin' gargoyles, Harry, people are still scared. Blimey, this is difficult. See, there was this wizard who went . . . bad. As bad as you could go. Worse. Worse than worse. His name was . . ." Hagrid gulped, but no words came out.**

"Twenty Gallons says he gets Hagrid to say it." Draco shot out.

Blaise shook his head, "No way, Hagrid wont say it you're on."

"We agree with Draco." stated the Weasley Twins.

The Prewett shook their heads, "No way."

The six shook on it and Hermione held on to the money.

** "Could you write it down?" Harry suggested.**

** "Nah... can't spell it. All right... **_**Voldemort.**_**"**

"What?!" the Prewett twins and Blaise cry out as Hermione hands the money out to the other three boys.

"Harry Potter does the impossible. Learned that in first year." Draco smirked.

** Hagrid shuddered. "Don' make me say it again. Anyway, this wizard, about twenty years ago now, started lookin' fer followers. Got 'em, too some were afraid, some just wanted a bit o' his power, 'cause he was gettin' himself power, all right. Dark days, Harry. Didn't know who ter trust, didn't dare get friendly with strange wizards or witches . . . terrible things happened. He was takin' over. 'Course, some stood up to him an' he killed 'em. Horribly. One o' the only safe places left was Hogwarts. Reckon Dumbledore's the only one You-Know-Who was afraid of. Didn't dare try takin' the school, not jus' then, anyway. Now, yer mum an' dad were as good a witch an' wizard as I ever knew. Head boy an' girl at Hogwarts in their day! Suppose the myst'ry is why You-Know-Who never tried to get 'em on his side before . . . probably knew they were too close ter Dumbledore ter want anythin' ter do with the Dark Side. Maybe he thought he could persuade 'em . . . maybe he just wanted 'em outta the way. All anyone knows is, he turned up in the village where you was all living, on Halloween ten years ago. You was just a year old. He came ter yer house an'" Hagrid suddenly pulled out a very dirty, spotted handkerchief and blew his nose with a sound like a foghorn. "Sorry," he said. "But it's that sad — knew yer mum an' dad, an' nicer people yeh couldn't find anyway . . .You-Know-Who killed 'em. An' then an' this is the real myst'ry of the thing he tried to kill you, too. Wanted ter make a clean job of it, I suppose, or maybe he just liked killin' by then. But he couldn't do it. Never wondered how you got that mark on yer forehead? That was no ordinary cut. That's what yeh get when a powerful, evil curse touches yeh — took care of yer mum an' dad an' yer house, even but it didn't work on you, an' that's why yer famous, Harry. No one ever lived after he decided ter kill 'em, no one except you, an' he'd killed some o' the best witches an' wizards of the age the McKinnons, the Bones,**

Amelia crys softly, Remus walks over and holds her.

** the Prewetts**

"What?" the Marauders cry out.

Gideon and Fabian look at their Twin nephews, whose heads are down and they hugged them. "It wont happen this time."

**an' you was only a baby, an' you lived." Something very painful was going on in Harry's mind. As Hagrid's story came to a close, he saw again the blinding flash of green light, more clearly than he had ever remembered it before — and he remembered something else, for the first time in his life: a high, cold, cruel laugh. Hagrid was watching him sadly. "Took yeh from the ruined house myself, on Dumbledore's orders. Brought yeh ter this lot . . ." **

** "Load of old tosh," said Uncle Vernon. Harry jumped; he had almost forgotten that the Dursleys were there. Uncle Vernon certainly seemed to have got back his courage. He was glaring at Hagrid and his fists were clenched. "Now, you listen here, boy," he snarled, "I accept there's something strange about you, probably nothing a good beating wouldn't have cured — and as for all this about your parents, well, they were weirdos, no denying it, and the world's better off without them in my opinion — asked for all they got, getting mixed up with these wizarding types — just what I expected, always knew they'd come to a sticky end —"**

** But at that moment, Hagrid leapt from the sofa and drew a battered pink umbrella from inside his coat. Pointing this at Uncle Vernon like a sword, he said, "I'm warning you, Dursley — I'm warning you — one more word . . ." In danger of being speared on the end of an umbrella by a bearded giant, Uncle Vernon's courage failed again; he lattened himself against the wall and fell silent. "That's better," said Hagrid, breathing heavily and sitting back down on the sofa, which this time sagged right down to the floor.**

** Harry, meanwhile, still had questions to ask, hundreds of them. "But what happened to Vol-, sorry — I mean, You-Know-Who?"**

** "Good question, Harry. Disappeared. Vanished. Same night he tried ter kill you. Makes yeh even more famous. That's the biggest myst'ry, see . . . he was gettin' more an' more powerful why'd he go? Some say he died. Codswallop, in my opinion. Dunno if he had enough human left in him to die. Some say he's still out there, bidin' his time, like, but I don' believe it. People who was on his side came back ter ours. Some of 'em came outta kinda trances. Don' reckon they could've done if he was comin' back. Most of us reckon he's still out there somewhere but lost his powers. Too weak to carry on. 'Cause somethin' about you finished him, Harry. There was somethin' goin' on that night he hadn't counted on — **_**I **_**dunno what it was, no one does — but somethin' about you stumped him, all right."**

"Wasn't me." Harry growled.

** Hagrid looked at Harry with warmth and respect blazing in his eyes, but Harry, instead of feeling pleased and proud, felt quite sure there had been a horrible mistake. A wizard? Him? How could he possibly be? He'd spent his life being clouted by Dudley, and bullied by Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon; if he was really a wizard, why hadn't they been turned into warty toads every time they'd tried to lock him in his cupboard? If he'd once defeated the greatest sorcerer in the world, how come Dudley had always been able to kick him around like a football? "Hagrid," he said quietly, "I think you must have made a mistake. I don't think I can be a wizard."**

**To his surprise, Hagrid chuckled. "Not a wizard, eh? Never made things happen when you was scared or angry?" Harry looked into the fire. Now he came to think about it... every odd thing that had ever made his aunt and uncle furious with him had happened when he, Harry, had been upset or angry... chased by Dudley's gang, he had somehow found himself out of their reach... dreading going to school with that ridiculous haircut, he'd managed to make it grow back... and the very last time Dudley had hit him, hadn't he got his revenge, without even realizing he was doing it? Hadn't he set a boa constrictor on him? Harry looked back at Hagrid, smiling, and saw that Hagrid was positively beaming at him. "See?" said Hagrid. "Harry Potter, not a wizard - you wait, you'll be right famous at Hogwarts."**

**But Uncle Vernon wasn't going to give in without a fight. "Haven't I told you he's not going?" he hissed. "He's going to Stonewall High and he'll be grateful for it. I've read those letters and he needs all sorts of rubbish - spell books and wands and -"**

**"If he wants ter go, a great Muggle like you won't stop him," growled Hagrid. "Stop Lily an' James Potter' s son goin' ter Hogwarts! Yer mad. His name's been down ever since he was born. He's off ter the finest school of witchcraft and wizardry in the world. Seven years there and he won't know himself. He'll be with youngsters of his own sort, fer a change, an' he'll be under the greatest headmaster Hogwarts ever had Albus Dumbled-"**

**"I AM NOT PAYING FOR SOME CRACKPOT OLD FOOL To TEACH HIM MAGIC TRICKS!" yelled Uncle Vernon.**

"Oh no he did it now." James and Padfoot whispered

**But he had finally gone too far. Hagrid seized his umbrella and whirled it over his head, "NEVER," he thundered, "- INSULT- ALBUS- DUMBLEDORE- IN- FRONT- OF- ME!" He brought the umbrella swishing down through the air to point at Dudley - there was a flash of violet light, a sound like a firecracker, a sharp squeal, and the next second, Dudley was dancing on the spot with his hands clasped over his fat bottom, howling in pain. When he turned his back on them, Harry saw a curly pig's tail poking through a hole in his trousers. Uncle Vernon roared.**

"Awesome Hagrid!" cry out the teens.

**Pulling Aunt Petunia and Dudley into the other room, he cast one last terrified look at Hagrid and slammed the door behind them. Hagrid looked down at his umbrella and stroked his beard. "Shouldn'ta lost me temper," he said ruefully, "but it didn't work anyway. Meant ter turn him into a pig, but I suppose he was so much like a pig anyway there wasn't much left ter do." He cast a sideways look at Harry under his bushy eyebrows. "Be grateful if yeh didn't mention that ter anyone at Hogwarts," he said. "I'm - er - not supposed ter do magic, strictly speakin'. I was allowed ter do a bit ter follow yeh an' get yer letters to yeh an' stuff - one o' the reasons I was so keen ter take on the job."**

**"Why aren't you supposed to do magic?" asked Harry.**

**"Oh, well - I was at Hogwarts meself but I - er - got expelled, ter tell yeh the truth. In me third year. They snapped me wand in half an' everything. But Dumbledore let me stay on as gamekeeper. Great man, Dumbledore." **

** "Why were you expelled?"**

"Harry, that is personal." Lily told him, Harry nodded.

"Besides he will never tell." the Prewett twins and Marauders stated, they saw the smirk on Harry, Hermione and Draco's faces. "He tells you?"

"Next year." Neville whispers. They groan as the Professors look worried.

**"It's gettin' late and we've got lots ter do tomorrow," said Hagrid loudly. "Gotta get up ter town, get all yer books an' that." He took off his thick black coat and threw it to Harry. "You can kip under that," he said. "Don' mind if it wriggles a bit, I think I still got a couple o' dormice in one o' the pockets."**

Harry passes the book to Hermione, who reads the title of the chapter and smiles.


	8. Chapter 8 Diagon Alley

**Chapter 8 - DIAGON ALLEY**

**Harry woke early the next morning. Although he could tell it was daylight, he kept his eyes shut tight. "It was a dream, he told himself firmly. "I dreamed a giant called Hagrid came to tell me I was going to a school for wizards. When I open my eyes I'll be at home in my cupboard." There was suddenly a loud tapping noise. And there's Aunt Petunia knocking on the door, Harry thought, his heart sinking. But he still didn't open his eyes. It had been such a good dream. Tap. Tap. Tap. "All right," Harry mumbled, "I'm getting up." He sat up and Hagrid's heavy coat fell off him. The hut was full of sunlight, the storm was over, Hagrid himself was asleep on the collapsed sofa, and there was an owl rapping its claw on the window, a newspaper held in its beak. Harry scrambled to his feet, so happy he felt as though a large balloon was swelling inside him. He went straight to the window and jerked it open. The owl swooped in and dropped the newspaper on top of Hagrid, who didn't wake up. The owl then fluttered onto the floor and began to attack Hagrid's coat. "Don't do that." Harry tried to wave the owl out of the way, but it snapped its beak fiercely at him and carried on savaging the coat. "Hagrid!" said Harry loudly. "There's an owl."**

**"Pay him," Hagrid grunted into the sofa.**

**"What?"**

**"He wants payin' fer deliverin' the paper. Look in the pockets." Hagrid's coat seemed to be made of nothing but pockets - bunches of keys, slug pellets, balls of string, peppermint humbugs, teabags... finally, Harry pulled out a handful of strange-looking coins. "Give him five Knuts," said Hagrid sleepily.**

**"Knuts?"**

"He doesn't know what those are!" Molly cries, frustrated she turns to Albus. "Why did you send this thing to help Harry?"

"That thing has a name, it is Hagrid." Loki growled standing up. "I am getting real tired of your shit, Molly Weasley. He is a person just like us and you WILL treat him that way. He is doing this to help Harry, now shut up and listen."

Raven placed a hand on his arm, he looked to her, nodded and sat down. "Molly, you tell your sons and Ginny that image is everything, well it isn't. Hagrid, no matter what anyone believes is a very wealthy person. If he chose to he could buy or build a house that is bigger than Potter Manor. He chooses to live the way that makes him happy. So he got kicked out of Hogwarts, once again wrongly convicted but he does what makes him happy and doesn't care what anyone thinks of him. You are a hypocrite Mrs. Weasley and it is one of the reason why I will never trust you. You try to change your kids into what you believe they should be with no thought to what would make them happy. You are just as bad as Voldemort, the only differences is you don't kill innocent people but you do try to kill the innocence in people and in my opinion, that is much worse. Now Harry please continue."

**"The little bronze ones." Harry counted out five little bronze coins, and the owl held out his leg so Harry could put the money into a small leather pouch tied to it. Then he flew off through the open window. Hagrid yawned loudly, sat up, and stretched. "Best be Off, Harry, lots ter do today, gotta get up ter London an' buy all yer stuff fer school."**

**Harry was turning over the wizard coins and looking at them. He had just thought of something that made him feel as though the happy balloon inside him had got a puncture. "Um - Hagrid?"**

**"Mm?" said Hagrid, who was pulling on his huge boots.**

**"I haven't got any money - and you heard Uncle Vernon last night ... he won't pay for me to go and learn magic."**

**"Don't worry about that," said Hagrid, standing up and scratching his head. "D'yeh think yer parents didn't leave yeh anything?"**

**"But if their house was destroyed -"**

**"They didn' keep their gold in the house, boy! Nah, first stop fer us is Gringotts. Wizards' bank. Have a sausage, they're not bad cold - an' I wouldn' say no teh a bit o' yer birthday cake, neither."**

**"Wizards have banks?"**

**"Just the one. Gringotts. Run by goblins."**

**Harry dropped the bit of sausage he was holding. "Goblins?"**

"I love those little guys." Raven sighs and Loki laughs at her.

**"Yeah - so yeh'd be mad ter try an' rob it, I'll tell yeh that. Never mess with goblins, Harry. Gringotts is the safest place in the world fer anything yeh want ter keep safe - 'cept maybe Hogwarts. As a matter o' fact, I gotta visit Gringotts anyway. Fer Dumbledore. Hogwarts business." Hagrid drew himself up proudly. "He usually gets me ter do important stuff fer him. Fetchin' you gettin' things from Gringotts - knows he can trust me, see. Got everythin'? Come on, then."**

**Harry followed Hagrid out onto the rock. The sky was quite clear now and the sea gleamed in the sunlight. The boat Uncle Vernon had hired was still there, with a lot of water in the bottom after the storm. "How did you get here?" Harry asked, looking around for another boat. **

** "Flew," said Hagrid.**

**"Flew?"**

**"Yeah but we'll go back in this. Not s'pposed ter use magic now I've got yeh." They settled down in the boat, Harry still staring at Hagrid, trying to imagine him flying. "Seems a shame ter row, though," said Hagrid, giving Harry another of his sideways looks. "If I was ter - er - speed things up a bit, would yeh mind not mentionin' it at Hogwarts?"**

**"Of course not," said Harry, eager to see more magic. Hagrid pulled out the pink umbrella again, tapped it twice on the side of the boat, and they sped off toward land. "Why would you be mad to try and rob Gringotts?" Harry asked.**

**"Spells, enchantments," said Hagrid, unfolding his newspaper as he spoke. "They say there's dragons guardin' the highsecurity vaults. And then yeh gotta find yer way - Gringotts is hundreds of miles under London, see. Deep under the Underground. Yeh'd die of hunger tryin' ter get out, even if yeh did manage ter get yer hands on summat." Harry sat and thought about this while Hagrid read his newspaper, the Daily Prophet. Harry had learned from Uncle Vernon that people liked to be left alone while they did this, but it was very difficult, he'd never had so many questions in his life. "Ministry o' Magic messin' things up as usual," Hagrid muttered, turning the page.**

**"There's a Ministry of Magic?" Harry asked, before he could stop himself.**

"A pointless group of people, sorry Arthur, I don't mean where you work but the judgement part. All idiots." Alex stated.

**"'Course," said Hagrid. "They wanted Dumbledore fer Minister, 0 ' course, but he'd never leave Hogwarts, so old Cornelius Fudge got the job. Bungler if ever there was one. So he pelts Dumbledore with owls every morning, askin' fer advice."**

**"But what does a Ministry of Magic do?"**

**"Well, their main job is to keep it from the Muggles that there's still witches an' wizards up an' down the country."**

**"Why?"**

**"Why? Blimey, Harry, everyone'd be wantin' magic solutions to their problems. Nah, we're best left alone." At this moment the boat bumped gently into the harbor wall. Hagrid folded up his newspaper, and they clambered up the stone steps onto the street. Passersby stared a lot at Hagrid as they walked through the little town to the station. Harry couldn't blame them. Not only was Hagrid twice as tall as anyone else, he kept pointing at perfectly ordinary things like parking meters and saying loudly, "See that, Harry? Things these Muggles dream up, eh?"**

**"Hagrid," said Harry, panting a bit as he ran to keep up, "did you say there are dragons at Gringotts?"**

"Are there Bill?"

Bill shrugged his shoulders. "I don't think so.."

"There are." Raven whispered. "I freed one, when I broke in last year." everyone looked at her, "It is a whole other story."

**"Well, so they say," said Hagrid. "Crikey, I'd like a dragon."**

**"You'd like one?"**

**"Wanted one ever since I was a kid - here we go." They had reached the station. There was a train to London in five minutes' time. Hagrid, who didn't understand "Muggle money," as he called it, gave the bills to Harry so he could buy their tickets. People stared more than ever on the train. Hagrid took up two seats and sat knitting what looked like a canary-yellow circus tent. "Still got yer letter, Harry?" he asked as he counted stitches. Harry took the parchment envelope out of his pocket. "Good," said Hagrid. "There's a list there of everything yeh need." Harry unfolded a second piece of paper he hadn't noticed the night before, and read:**

**HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY**

**UNIFORM**

**First-year students will require:**

**1. Three sets of plain work robes (black)**

**2. One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear**

"Didn't know the use for that until Harry on Halloween." Draco stated.

**3. One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)**

**4. One winter cloak (black, silver fastenings)**

**Please note that all pupils' clothes should carry name tags**

**COURSE BOOKS**

**All students should have a copy of each of the following:**

**The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1) by Miranda Goshawk**

**A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot**

**Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling**

**A Beginners' Guide to Transfiguration by Emetic Switch**

**One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi by Phyllida Spore**

**Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger**

**Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander**

**The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection by Quentin Trimble**

**OTHER EQUIPMENT**

**wand cauldron (pewter, standard size 2) set**

**glass or crystal phials**

**telescope set**

**brass scales**

**Students may also bring an owl OR a cat OR a toad**

**PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICKS**

"Unless you can do the impossible." Draco whispered. Harry laughed.

**"Can we buy all this in London?" Harry wondered aloud.**

**"If yeh know where to go," said Hagrid. Harry had never been to London before. Although Hagrid seemed to know where he was going, he was obviously not used to getting there in an ordinary way. He got stuck in the ticket barrier on the Underground, and complained loudly that the seats were too small and the trains too slow. "I don't know how the Muggles manage without magic," he said as they climbed a broken-down escalator that led up to a bustling road lined with shops. Hagrid was so huge that he parted the crowd easily; all Harry had to do was keep close behind him. They passed book shops and music stores, hamburger restaurants and cinemas, but nowhere that looked as if it could sell you a magic wand. This was just an ordinary street full of ordinary people. Could there really be piles of wizard gold buried miles beneath them? Were there really shops that sold spell books and broomsticks? Might this not all be some huge joke that the Dursleys had cooked up? If Harry hadn't known that the Dursleys had no sense of humor, he might have thought so; yet somehow, even though everything Hagrid had told him so far was unbelievable, Harry couldn't help trusting him. "This is it," said Hagrid, coming to a halt, "the Leaky Cauldron. It's a famous place."**

**It was a tiny, grubby-looking pub. If Hagrid hadn't pointed it out, Harry wouldn't have noticed it was there. The people hurrying by didn't glance at it. Their eyes slid from the big book shop on one side to the record shop on the other as if they couldn't see the Leaky Cauldron at all. In fact, Harry had the most peculiar feeling that only he and Hagrid could see it. Before he could mention this, Hagrid had steered him inside. For a famous place, it was very dark and shabby. A few old women were sitting in a corner, drinking tiny glasses of sherry. One of them was smoking a long pipe. A little man in a top hat was talking to the old bartender, who was quite bald and looked like a toothless walnut. The low buzz of chatter stopped when they walked in. Everyone seemed to know Hagrid; they waved and smiled at him, and the bartender reached for a glass, saying, "The usual, Hagrid?"**

**"Can't, Tom, I'm on Hogwarts business," said Hagrid, clapping his great hand on Harry's shoulder and making Harry's knees buckle.**

**"Good Lord," said the bartender, peering at Harry, "is this - can this be -?" The Leaky Cauldron had suddenly gone completely still and silent. "Bless my soul," whispered the old bartender, "Harry Potter... what an honor." He hurried out from behind the bar, rushed toward Harry and seized his hand, tears in his eyes. "Welcome back, Mr. Potter, welcome back."**

"Where did you go Harry?" Luna asked, Blaise laughed at her.

**Harry didn't know what to say. Everyone was looking at him. The old woman with the pipe was puffing on it without realizing it had gone out. Hagrid was beaming. Then there was a great scraping of chairs and the next moment, Harry found himself shaking hands with everyone in the Leaky Cauldron. "Doris Crockford, Mr. Potter, can't believe I'm meeting you at last."**

**"So proud, Mr. Potter, I'm just so proud."**

**"Always wanted to shake your hand - I'm all of a flutter."**

**"Delighted, Mr. Potter, just can't tell you, Diggle's the name, Dedalus Diggle."**

**"I've seen you before!" said Harry, as Dedalus Diggle's top hat fell off in his excitement. "You bowed to me once in a shop."**

**"He remembers!" cried Dedalus Diggle, looking around at everyone. "Did you hear that? He remembers me!" Harry shook hands again and again - Doris Crockford kept coming back for more.**

**A pale young man made his way forward, very nervously. One of his eyes was twitching. "Professor Quirrell!" said Hagrid. "Harry, Professor Quirrell will be one of your teachers at Hogwarts."**

**"P-P-Potter," stammered Professor Quirrell, grasping Harry's hand, "c-can't t-tell you how p- pleased I am to meet you."**

Harry, Hermione, Neville and Draco growled at the book, the adults look concerned.

**"What sort of magic do you teach, Professor Quirrell?"**

**"D-Defense Against the D-D-Dark Arts," muttered Professor Quirrell, as though he'd rather not think about it. "N-not that you n-need it, eh, P-P-Potter?" He laughed nervously. "You'll be g-getting all your equipment, I suppose? I've g-got to p-pick up a new b-book on vampires, m-myself." He looked terrified at the very thought.**

**But the others wouldn't let Professor Quirrell keep Harry to himself. It took almost ten minutes to get away from them all. At last, Hagrid managed to make himself heard over the babble. "Must get on - lots ter buy. Come on, Harry." Doris Crockford shook Harry's hand one last time, and Hagrid led them through the bar and out into a small, walled courtyard, where there was nothing but a trash can and a few weeds. Hagrid grinned at Harry. "Told yeh, didn't I? Told yeh you was famous. Even Professor Quirrell was tremblin' ter meet yeh - mind you, he's usually tremblin'."**

**"Is he always that nervous?"**

"Git!" Draco spat.

**"Oh, yeah. Poor bloke. Brilliant mind. He was fine while he was studyin' outta books but then he took a year off ter get some firsthand experience... They say he met vampires in the Black Forest, and there was a nasty bit o' trouble with a hag - never been the same since. Scared of the students, scared of his own subject now, where's me umbrella?" Vampires? Hags? Harry's head was swimming. Hagrid, meanwhile, was counting bricks in the wall above the trash can. "Three up... two across he muttered. "Right, stand back, Harry." He tapped the wall three times with the point of his umbrella. The brick he had touched quivered - it wriggled - in the middle, a small hole appeared - it grew wider and wider - a second later they were facing an archway large enough even for Hagrid, an archway onto a cobbled street that twisted and turned out of sight. "Welcome," said Hagrid, "to Diagon Alley."**

**He grinned at Harry's amazement. They stepped through the archway. Harry looked quickly over his shoulder and saw the archway shrink instantly back into solid wall. The sun shone brightly on a stack of cauldrons outside the nearest shop. Cauldrons - All Sizes - Copper, Brass, Pewter, Silver - Self-Stirring - Collapsible, said a sign hanging over them. "Yeah, you'll be needin' one," said Hagrid, "but we gotta get yer money first."**

**Harry wished he had about eight more eyes. He turned his head in every direction as they walked up the street, trying to look at everything at once: the shops, the things outside them, the people doing their shopping. A plump woman outside an Apothecary was shaking her head as they passed, saying, "Dragon liver, seventeen Sickles an ounce, they're mad..."**

**A low, soft hooting came from a dark shop with a sign saying Eeylops Owl Emporium - Tawny, Screech, Barn, Brown, and Snowy. Several boys of about Harry's age had their noses pressed against a window with broomsticks in it. "Look," Harry heard one of them say, "the new Nimbus Two Thousand - fastest ever -" There were shops selling robes, shops selling telescopes and strange silver instruments Harry had never seen before, windows stacked with barrels of bat spleens and eels' eyes, tottering piles of spell books, quills, and rolls of parchment, potion bottles, globes of the moon...**

**"Gringotts," said Hagrid. They had reached a snowy white building that towered over the other little shops. Standing beside its burnished bronze doors, wearing a uniform of scarlet and gold, was - "Yeah, that's a goblin," said Hagrid quietly as they walked up the white stone steps toward him. The goblin was about a head shorter than Harry. He had a swarthy, clever face, a pointed beard and, Harry noticed, very long fingers and feet. He bowed as they walked inside. Now they were facing a second pair of doors, silver this time, with words engraved upon them:**

_**Enter, stranger, but take heed**_

_**Of what awaits the sin of greed,**_

_**For those who take, but do not earn,**_

_**Must pay most dearly in their turn.**_

_**So if you seek beneath our floors**_

_**A treasure that was never yours,**_

_**Thief, you have been warned, beware**_

_**Of finding more than treasure there.**_

**"Like I said, Yeh'd be mad ter try an' rob it," said Hagrid. A pair of goblins bowed them through the silver doors and they were in a vast marble hall. About a hundred more goblins were sitting on high stools behind a long counter, scribbling in large ledgers, weighing coins in brass scales, examining precious stones through eyeglasses. There were too many doors to count leading off the hall, and yet more goblins were showing people in and out of these. Hagrid and Harry made for the counter. "Morning," said Hagrid to a free goblin. "We've come ter take some money outta Mr. Harry Potter's safe."**

**"You have his key, Sir?"**

**"Got it here somewhere," said Hagrid, and he started emptying his pockets onto the counter, scattering a handful of moldy dog biscuits over the goblin's book of numbers. The goblin wrinkled his nose. Harry watched the goblin on their right weighing a pile of rubies as big as glowing coals.**

"Oh Hagrid, we need to do something about those pockets." Hermione groaned, Harry nodded.

**"Got it," said Hagrid at last, holding up a tiny golden key.**

**The goblin looked at it closely. "That seems to be in order."**

**"An' I've also got a letter here from Professor Dumbledore," said Hagrid importantly, throwing out his chest. "It's about the YouKnow-What in vault seven hundred and thirteen."**

"Oh so that's how it started!" Hermione smiled, Harry laughed. "I would have been nosy too Harry after hearing that."

**The goblin read the letter carefully. "Very well," he said, handing it back to Hagrid, "I will have Someone take you down to both vaults. Griphook!" Griphook was yet another goblin. Once Hagrid had crammed all the dog biscuits back inside his pockets, he and Harry followed Griphook toward one of the doors leading off the hall.**

**"What's the You-Know-What in vault seven hundred and thirteen?" Harry asked.**

**"Can't tell yeh that," said Hagrid mysteriously. "Very secret. Hogwarts business. Dumbledore's trusted me. More'n my job's worth ter tell yeh that."**

"And that made it worse." Draco smirked.

**Griphook held the door open for them. Harry, who had expected more marble, was surprised. They were in a narrow stone passageway lit with flaming torches. It sloped steeply downward and there were little railway tracks on the floor. Griphook whistled and a small cart came hurtling up the tracks toward them. They climbed in - Hagrid with some difficulty - and were off. At first they just hurtled through a maze of twisting passages. Harry tried to remember, left, right, right, left, middle fork, right, left, but it was impossible. The rattling cart seemed to know its own way, because Griphook wasn't steering. Harry's eyes stung as the cold air rushed past them, but he kept them wide open. Once, he thought he saw a burst of fire at the end of a passage and twisted around to see if it was a dragon, but too late - - they plunged even deeper, passing an underground lake where huge stalactites and stalagmites grew from the ceiling and floor. "I never know," Harry called to Hagrid over the noise of the cart, "what's the difference between a stalagmite and a stalactite?"**

Hermione was about to answer when she read ahead and laughed. "His answer is better."

**"Stalagmite's got an 'm' in it," said Hagrid. "An' don' ask me questions just now, I think I'm gonna be sick." He did look very green, and when the cart stopped at last beside a small door in the passage wall, Hagrid got out and had to lean against the wall to stop his knees from trembling. Griphook unlocked the door. A lot of green smoke came billowing out, and as it cleared, Harry gasped. Inside were mounds of gold coins. Columns of silver. Heaps of little bronze Knuts. "All yours," smiled Hagrid. All Harry's - it was incredible. The Dursleys couldn't have known about this or they'd have had it from him faster than blinking. How often had they complained how much Harry cost them to keep? And all the time there had been a small fortune belonging to him, buried deep under London. Hagrid helped Harry pile some of it into a bag. "The gold ones are Galleons," he explained. "Seventeen silver Sickles to a Galleon and twenty-nine Knuts to a Sickle, it's easy enough. Right, that should be enough fer a couple o' terms, we'll keep the rest safe for yeh." He turned to Griphook. "Vault seven hundred and thirteen now, please, and can we go more slowly?"**

**"One speed only," said Griphook.**

"Besides it is best that way, you do not want them to go slow and you fall out." Alex shivered.

**They were going even deeper now and gathering speed. The air became colder and colder as they hurtled round tight corners. They went rattling over an underground ravine, and Harry leaned over the side to try to see what was down at the dark bottom, but Hagrid groaned and pulled him back by the scruff of his neck.**

"Harry!" Hermione cried, Harry smirked.

Draco laughed, "You weren't even at Hogwarts yet and you were doing live endangering stunts."

**Vault seven hundred and thirteen had no keyhole. "Stand back," said Griphook importantly. He stroked the door gently with one of his long fingers and it simply melted away. "If anyone but a Gringotts goblin tried that, they'd be sucked through the door and trapped in there," said Griphook.**

**"How often do you check to see if anyone's inside?" Harry asked.**

**"About once every ten years," said Griphook with a rather nasty grin.**

**Something really extraordinary had to be inside this top security vault, Harry was sure, and he leaned forward eagerly, expecting to see fabulous jewels at the very least - but at first he thought it was empty. Then he noticed a grubby little package wrapped up in brown paper lying on the floor. Hagrid picked it up and tucked it deep inside his coat. Harry longed to know what it was, but knew better than to ask.**

"For once." Draco, Neville and Hermione whispered.

**"Come on, back in this infernal cart, and don't talk to me on the way back, it's best if I keep me mouth shut," said Hagrid. One wild cart ride later they stood blinking in the sunlight outside Gringotts. Harry didn't know where to run first now that he had a bag full of money. He didn't have to know how many Galleons there were to a pound to know that he was holding more money than he'd had in his whole life - more money than even Dudley had ever had. "Might as well get yer uniform," said Hagrid, nodding toward Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions. "Listen, Harry, would yeh mind if I slipped off fer a pick-me-up in the Leaky Cauldron? I hate them Gringotts carts." He did still look a bit sick, so Harry entered Madam Malkin's shop alone, feeling nervous.**

"Really Albus, why do you allow him around children?" Molly spat.

Loki growled, stood up and jumped over the table landing infront of her. "Say one more thing about Hagrid, I dare you. I am trying to be nice to you because of Arthur but there is nothing that I want more then hit you right now. You are evil and think that just because Arthur is your husband that you can talk down to people. Well let me tell you something if he knew half of the things that we do, he wouldn't hesitate to leave you. You are pushing your kids away and turning two of them into monsters. For Godric's sake, Ron murders Charlie and laughs about it. I have seen it, I had to. I had to know why for months after that day Raven would scream in her sleep, I had to know why she hated herself, I had to know why whenever anyone with red hair beside Fred and George touched her she panicked and locked herself in her room. She almost killed herself and weather she wants to admit it or not, she still isn't over it, she just hides it because she doesn't want us worrying about her. There is nothing, NOTHING you can say that will make me not hate you. It is not her fault that Ron killed him, it was yours." Loki's eyes turned black, Alex stood up and pulled Loki away from the table.

"Raven?" Charlie whispered, she gasped and looked up at him. "Do you still have nightmares?" She bit her lip and nodded. "Tonight you will sleep near me."

Fred and George smiled at Charlie and nodded, Fred looked over at the boys. "Is he okay?"

"Alex? Yeah he is fine. Loki? Not so much." Jasper whispered.

Raven stood up, walked over to Draco, grabbed his hand and pulled him over to Loki. She pushed Alex out of the way and placed Draco infront of a very angry Loki. He moved to hit him but froze when he saw his face. "Loki if you want to get to the table, go through Draco." Loki looked from Draco to Raven, he sighed then lowered his head. "Draco, I would like you to meet Loki Avian Malfoy." Lucius gasped from behind them. "He is your uncle, your grandparents throw him out when he refused Voldemort."

"You died." Lucius whispered.

Loki laughed, "No, not that they didn't try. Thank the lord for Regulus though, I would have died if not for him ordering Kreature to look out for me."

"So you are my uncle?" Draco asked, Loki nodded. Draco bent forward and whispered, "You hurt Harry, I'll kill you." He pulled back to see Loki smirk and nod. "Well, now that everyone is calm. Let's read."

**Madam Malkin was a squat, smiling witch dressed all in mauve. "Hogwarts, dear?" she said, when Harry started to speak. "Got the lot here - another young man being fitted up just now, in fact. "**

"Oh no, please! Can we skip this?" Draco groaned, Harry laughed.

"No, we can't." Severus answered.

"Well then I must tell everyone, I am a prat. I am awful, rude, inconsiderate and evil. I lie to get them in trouble and I start most of our issues." Draco whispered as he eyed Minerva.

**In the back of the shop, a boy with a pale, pointed face was standing on a footstool while a second witch pinned up his long black robes. Madam Malkin stood Harry on a stool next to him) slipped a long robe over his head, and began to pin it to the right length. "Hello," said the boy, "Hogwarts, too?"**

**"Yes," said Harry.**

**"My father's next door buying my books and mother's up the street looking at wands," said the boy. He had a bored, drawling voice. "Then I'm going to drag them off to took at racing brooms. I don't see why first years can't have their own. I think I'll bully father into getting me one and I'll smuggle it in somehow." Harry was strongly reminded of Dudley.**

"Ouch! Man, I'm not like that anymore am I?" Draco asked, Harry shock his head.

**"Have you got your own broom?" the boy went on.**

**"No," said Harry.**

**"Play Quidditch at all?"**

**"No," Harry said again, wondering what on earth Quidditch could be.**

**"I do - Father says it's a crime if I'm not picked to play for my house, and I must say, I agree. Know what house you'll be in yet?"**

**"No," said Harry, feeling more stupid by the minute.**

**"Well, no one really knows until they get there, do they, but I know I'll be in Slytherin, all our family have been - imagine being in Hufflepuff, I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?" **

** "Mmm," said Harry, wishing he could say something a bit more interesting.**

**"I say, look at that man!" said the boy suddenly, nodding toward the front window. Hagrid was standing there, grinning at Harry and pointing at two large ice creams to show he couldn't come in.**

**"That's Hagrid," said Harry, pleased to know something the boy didn't. "He works at Hogwarts."**

**"Oh," said the boy, "I've heard of him. He's a sort of servant, isn't he?"**

"No he is!" Draco corrected himself, making Minerva and Severus smile.

**"He's the gamekeeper," said Harry. He was liking the boy less and less every second.**

**"Yes, exactly. I heard he's a sort of savage - lives in a hut on the school grounds and every now and then he gets drunk, tries to do magic, and ends up setting fire to his bed."**

"Actually, that was me. Hagrid took the blame." Sirius stated, Raven looked at him. "I had just gotten back from a home visit and needed to forget."

**"I think he's brilliant," said Harry coldly.**

**"Do you?" said the boy, with a slight sneer. "Why is he with you? Where are your parents?"**

**"They're dead," said Harry shortly. He didn't feel much like going into the matter with this boy.**

**"Oh, sorry," said the other,. not sounding sorry at all. "But they were our kind, weren't they?"**

**"They were a witch and wizard, if that's what you mean."**

**"I really don't think they should let the other sort in, do you? They're just not the same, they've never been brought up to know our ways. Some of them have never even heard of Hogwarts until they get the letter, imagine. I think they should keep it in the old wizarding families. What's your surname, anyway?"**

"Merlin I was a dick. I only get worse don't I?" Draco groaned, Hermione laughed and nodded.

**But before Harry could answer, Madam Malkin said, "That's you done, my dear," and Harry, not sorry for an excuse to stop talking to the boy, hopped down from the footstool.**

**"Well, I'll see you at Hogwarts, I suppose," said the drawling boy.**

**Harry was rather quiet as he ate the ice cream Hagrid had bought him, chocolate and raspberry with chopped nuts. "What's up?" said Hagrid.**

**"Nothing," Harry lied.**

"You suck at lying." Draco pointed out, Harry stuck his tongue out at him.

**They stopped to buy parchment and quills. Harry cheered up a bit when he found a bottle of ink that changed color as you wrote. When they had left the shop, he said, "Hagrid, what's Quidditch?"**

**"Blimey, Harry, I keep forgettin' how little yeh know - not knowin' about Quidditch!"**

**"Don't make me feel worse," said Harry. He told Hagrid about the pate boy in Madam Malkin's. "... and he said people from Muggle families shouldn't even be allowed in."**

**"Yer not from a Muggle family. If he'd known who yeh were - he's grown up knowin' yer name if his parents are wizardin' folk. You saw what everyone in the Leaky Cauldron was like when they saw yeh. Anyway, what does he know about it, some o' the best I ever saw were the only ones with magic in 'em in a long line 0' Muggles - look at yer mum! Look what she had fer a sister!"**

**"So what is Quidditch?"**

**"It's our sport. Wizard sport. It's like - like soccer in the Muggle world - everyone follows Quidditch - played up in the air on broomsticks and there's four balls - sorta hard ter explain the rules." **

** "And what are Slytherin and Hufflepuff?"**

**"School houses. There's four. Everyone says Hufflepuff are a lot o' duffers, but -"**

**"I bet I'm in Hufflepuff" said Harry gloomily.**

**"Better Hufflepuff than Slytherin," said Hagrid darkly. "There's not a single witch or wizard who went bad who wasn't in Slytherin. You-Know-Who was one."**

**"Vol-, sorry - You-Know-Who was at Hogwarts?"**

**"Years an' years ago," said Hagrid.**

**They bought Harry's school books in a shop called Flourish and Blotts where the shelves were stacked to the ceiling with books as large as paving stones bound in leather; books the size of postage stamps in covers of silk; books full of peculiar symbols and a few books with nothing in them at all. Even Dudley, who never read anything, would have been wild to get his hands on some of these. Hagrid almost had to drag Harry away from Curses and Countercurses (Bewitch Your Friends and Befuddle Your Enemies with the Latest Revenges: Hair Loss, Jelly-Legs, Tongue- Tying and Much, Much More) by Professor Vindictus Viridian. "I was trying to find out how to curse Dudley."**

**"I'm not sayin' that's not a good idea, but yer not ter use magic in the Muggle world except in very special circumstances," said Hagrid. "An' anyway, yeh couldn' work any of them curses yet, yeh'll need a lot more study before yeh get ter that level."**

**Hagrid wouldn't let Harry buy a solid gold cauldron, either ("It says pewter on yer list"), but they got a nice set of scales for weighing potion ingredients and a collapsible brass telescope. Then they visited the Apothecary, which was fascinating enough to make up for its horrible smell, a mixture of bad eggs and rotted cabbages. Barrels of slimy stuff stood on the floor; jars of herbs, dried roots, and bright powders lined the walls; bundles of feathers, strings of fangs, and snarled claws hung from the ceiling. While Hagrid asked the man behind the counter for a supply of some basic potion ingredients for Harry, Harry himself examined silver unicorn horns at twenty-one Galleons each and minuscule, glittery-black beetle eyes (five Knuts a scoop).**

**Outside the Apothecary, Hagrid checked Harry's list again. "Just yer wand left - A yeah, an' I still haven't got yeh a birthday present."**

**Harry felt himself go red. "You don't have to -"**

**"I know I don't have to. Tell yeh what, I'll get yer animal. Not a toad, toads went outta fashion years ago, yeh'd be laughed at - an' I don' like cats, they make me sneeze. I'll get yer an owl. All the kids want owls, they're dead useful, carry yer mail an' everythin'."**

**Twenty minutes later, they left Eeylops Owl Emporium, which had been dark and full of rustling and flickering, jewel-bright eyes. Harry now carried a large cage that held a beautiful snowy owl, fast asleep with her head under her wing. He couldn't stop stammering his thanks, sounding just like Professor Quirrell.**

"HEDWIG!" Hermione, Harry, Luna, Neville, Draco, Blaise and Sirius yelled out.

**"Don' mention it," said Hagrid gruffly. "Don' expect you've had a lotta presents from them Dursleys. Just Ollivanders left now - only place fer wands, Ollivanders, and yeh gotta have the best wand."**

**A magic wand... this was what Harry had been really looking forward to. The last shop was narrow and shabby. Peeling gold letters over the door read Ollivanders: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 B.C. A single wand lay on a faded purple cushion in the dusty window. A tinkling bell rang somewhere in the depths of the shop as they stepped inside. It was a tiny place, empty except for a single, spindly chair that Hagrid sat on to wait. Harry felt strangely as though he had entered a very strict library; he swallowed a lot of new questions that had just occurred to him and looked instead at the thousands of narrow boxes piled neatly right up to the ceiling. For some reason, the back of his neck prickled. The very dust and silence in here seemed to tingle with some secret magic.**

**"Good afternoon," said a soft voice. Harry jumped. Hagrid must have jumped, too, because there was a loud crunching noise and he got quickly off the spindly chair. An old man was standing before them, his wide, pale eyes shining like moons through the gloom of the shop.**

**"Hello," said Harry awkwardly.**

**"Ah yes," said the man. "Yes, yes. I thought I'd be seeing you soon. Harry Potter." It wasn't a question. "You have your mother's eyes. It seems only yesterday she was in here herself, buying her first wand. Ten and a quarter inches long, swishy, made of willow. Nice wand for charm work." Mr. Ollivander moved closer to Harry. Harry wished he would blink. Those silvery eyes were a bit creepy. "Your father, on the other hand, favored a mahogany wand. Eleven inches. Pliable. A little more power and excellent for transfiguration. Well, I say your father favored it - it's really the wand that chooses the wizard, of course." Mr. Ollivander had come so close that he and Harry were almost nose to nose. Harry could see himself reflected in those misty eyes. "And that's where..." Mr. Ollivander touched the lightning scar on Harry's forehead with a long, white finger. "I'm sorry to say I sold the wand that did it," he said softly. "Thirteen-and-a-half inches. Yew. Powerful wand, very powerful, and in the wrong hands... well, if I'd known what that wand was going out into the world to do..." He shook his head and then, to Harry's relief, spotted Hagrid. "Rubeus! Rubeus Hagrid! How nice to see you again... Oak, sixteen inches, rather bendy, wasn't it?"**

**"It was, sir, yes," said Hagrid.**

**"Good wand, that one. But I suppose they snapped it in half when you got expelled?" said Mr. Ollivander, suddenly stern.**

**"Er - yes, they did, yes," said Hagrid, shuffling his feet. "I've still got the pieces, though," he added brightly.**

**"But you don't use them?" said Mr. Ollivander sharply.**

**"Oh, no, sit," said Hagrid quickly. Harry noticed he gripped his pink umbrella very tightly as he spoke.**

**"Hmmm," said Mr. Ollivander, giving Hagrid a piercing look. "Well, now - Mr. Potter. Let me see." He pulled a long tape measure with silver markings out of his pocket. "Which is your wand arm?"**

**"Er - well, I'm right-handed," said Harry.**

**"Hold out your arm. That's it." He measured Harry from shoulder to finger, then wrist to elbow, shoulder to floor, knee to armpit and round his head. As he measured, he said, "Every Ollivander wand has a core of a powerful magical substance, Mr. Potter. We use unicorn hairs, phoenix tail feathers, and the heartstrings of dragons. No two Ollivander wands are the same, just as no two unicorns, dragons, or phoenixes are quite the same. And of course, you will never get such good results with another wizard's wand." Harry suddenly realized that the tape measure, which was measuring between his nostrils, was doing this on its own. Mr. Ollivander was flitting around the shelves, taking down boxes. "That will do," he said, and the tape measure crumpled into a heap on the floor. "Right then, Mr. Potter. Try this one. Beechwood and dragon heartstring. Nine inches. Nice and flexible. just take it and give it a wave." Harry took the wand and (feeling foolish) waved it around a bit, but Mr. Ollivander snatched it out of his hand almost at once. "Maple and phoenix feather. Seven inches. Quite whippy. Try -" Harry tried - but he had hardly raised the wand when it, too, was snatched back by Mr. Ollivander. "No, no -here, ebony and unicorn hair, eight and a half inches, springy. Go on, go on, try it out." Harry tried. And tried.**

"How many did you try?" Hermione asked.

Harry shrugged, "I stopped counting after sixty-four, it was still an hour before we found it."

Everyone gasped. Severus smiled, "That means you are meant to do great things Harry."

** He had no idea what Mr. Ollivander was waiting for. The pile of tried wands was mounting higher and higher on the spindly chair, but the more wands Mr. Ollivander pulled from the shelves, the happier he seemed to become. "Tricky customer, eh? Not to worry, we'll find the perfect match here somewhere - I wonder, now - - yes, why not - unusual combination - holly and phoenix feather, eleven inches, nice and supple." Harry took the wand. He felt a sudden warmth in his fingers. He raised the wand above his head, brought it swishing down through the dusty air and a stream of red and gold sparks shot from the end like a firework, throwing dancing spots of light on to the walls. Hagrid whooped and clapped and Mr. Ollivander cried, "Oh, bravo! Yes, indeed, oh, very good. Well, well, well... how curious... how very curious... " He put Harry's wand back into its box and wrapped it in brown paper, still muttering, "Curious... curious..**

"Oh, crap. How did I forget this." Harry banged his head against the table, again and again.

Loki got up, walked over and held him still. "You keep doing that Darlin' and you're gonna break something. Now relax." Harry blushed but nodded, Loki smirked, kissed Harry's cheek then walked back to his seat.

**"Sorry," said Harry, "but what's curious?"**

** Mr. Ollivander fixed Harry with his pale stare. "I remember every wand I've ever sold, Mr. Potter. Every single wand. It so happens that the phoenix whose tail feather is in your wand, gave another feather - just one other. It is very curious indeed that you should be destined for this wand when its brother why, its brother gave you that scar."**

"Really? Harry that would have been something to tell us!" Hermione groaned, "It would explain a lot."

"Really?" Hermione nodded, Harry frowned. "Sorry, I will start telling you everything, I promise."

Hermione smiled, "Good."

**Harry swallowed. "Yes, thirteen-and-a-half inches. Yew. Curious indeed how these things happen. The wand chooses the wizard, remember... I think we must expect great things from you, Mr. Potter... After all, He- Who-Must-Not-Be-Named did great things - terrible, yes, but great." Harry shivered. He wasn't sure he liked Mr. Ollivander too much. He paid seven gold Galleons for his wand, and Mr. Ollivander bowed them from his shop.**

**The late afternoon sun hung low in the sky as Harry and Hagrid made their way back down Diagon Alley, back through the wall, back through the Leaky Cauldron, now empty. Harry didn't speak at all as they walked down the road; he didn't even notice how much people were gawking at them on the Underground, laden as they were with all their funny-shaped packages, with the snowy owl asleep in its cage on Harry's lap. Up another escalator, out into Paddington station; Harry only realized where they were when Hagrid tapped him on the shoulder.**

**"Got time fer a bite to eat before yer train leaves," he said. He bought Harry a hamburger and they sat down on plastic seats to eat them. Harry kept looking around. Everything looked so strange, somehow. "You all right, Harry? Yer very quiet," said Hagrid.**

**Harry wasn't sure he could explain. He'd just had the best birthday of his life - and yet - he chewed his hamburger, trying to find the words. "Everyone thinks I'm special," he said at last. "All those people in the Leaky Cauldron, Professor Quirrell, Mr. Ollivander... but I don't know anything about magic at all. How can they expect great things? I'm famous and I can't even remember what I'm famous for. I don't know what happened when Vol-, sorry - I mean, the night my parents died."**

**Hagrid leaned across the table. Behind the wild beard and eyebrows he wore a very kind smile. "Don' you worry, Harry. You'll learn fast enough. Everyone starts at the beginning at Hogwarts, you'll be just fine. just be yerself. I know it's hard. Yeh've been singled out, an' that's always hard. But yeh'll have a great time at Hogwarts - I did - still do, 'smatter of fact." Hagrid helped Harry on to the train that would take him back to the Dursleys, then handed him an envelope. "Yer ticket fer Hogwarts, " he said. "First o' September - King's Cross - it's all on yer ticket. Any problems with the Dursleys, send me a letter with yer owl, she'll know where to find me... See yeh soon, Harry."**

"Oh you have to be kidding, Hagrid." Hermione sighed.

"What?" James asked.

Draco shook his head, "He didn't tell Harry how it get on the platform, maybe if he had things would be different."

**The train pulled out of the station. Harry wanted to watch Hagrid until he was out of sight; he rose in his seat and pressed his nose against the window, but he blinked and Hagrid had gone.**

Hermione took the book from Harry and smiled at the title.


	9. Chapter 9 Platform 9&3 Quarters

**Chapter 9 - THE JOURNEY FROM PLATFORM NINE AND THREE-QUARTERS**

**Harry's last month with the Dursleys wasn't fun. True, Dudley was now so scared of Harry he wouldn't stay in the same room, while Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon didn't shut Harry in his cupboard, force him to do anything, beat him or shout at him - in fact, they didn't speak to him at all. Half terrified, half furious, they acted as though any chair with Harry in it were empty. Although this was an improvement in many ways, it did become a bit depressing after a while.**

**Harry kept to his room, with his new owl for company. He had decided to call her Hedwig, a name he had found in A History of Magic.**

"Harry! No, don't go over to the dark side!" Fred and George cried out. Harry laughed.

Hermione pouted, "So I am on the dark side?"

Fred and George looked at her then at each other before they got up, ran to her and hugged her between them. "Never our dear Mia." Fred started.

"You are the genius witch that has betrayed the dark side," George smirked,

"so that you could help out us, and bring," Fred laughed at her smile."

George and Fred smirked as they bent to whisper in her ear, "smiles and laughs to those who have none."

Hermione blushed and hit them both as they laughed and walked back to their seats. Harry and Draco watched them, looked at each other, turned to Neville and Blaise, who smiled and nodded.

** His school books were very interesting. He lay on his bed reading late into the night, Hedwig swooping in and out of the open window as she pleased. It was lucky that Aunt Petunia didn't come in to vacuum anymore, because Hedwig kept bringing back dead mice. Every night before he went to sleep, Harry ticked off another day on the piece of paper he had pinned to the wall, counting down to September the first.**

**On the last day of August he thought he'd better speak to his aunt and uncle about getting to King's Cross station the next day, so he went down to the living room where they were watching a quiz show on television. He cleared his throat to let them know he was there, and Dudley screamed and ran from the room.**

**"Er - Uncle Vernon?" Uncle Vernon grunted to show he was listening. "Er - I need to be at King's Cross tomorrow to - to go to Hogwarts." Uncle Vernon grunted again. "Would it be all right if you gave me a lift?" Grunt. Harry supposed that meant yes. "Thank you."**

"So you speak Troll then too?" Draco smirked, Harry and Hermione laughed as Neville pailed.

**He was about to go back upstairs when Uncle Vernon actually spoke. "Funny way to get to a wizards' school, the train. Magic carpets all got punctures, have they?" Harry didn't say anything. "Where is this school, anyway?"**

"How are you suppose to know that? He know you were raised in the muggle world, right?" Blaise growled, Harry smirked and nodded.

**"I don't know," said Harry, realizing this for the first time. He pulled the ticket Hagrid had given him out of his pocket. "I just take the train from platform nine and three-quarters at eleven o'clock," he read.**

**His aunt and uncle stared. "Platform what?"**

**"Nine and three-quarters."**

**"Don't talk rubbish," said Uncle Vernon. "There is no platform nine and three-quarters."**

**"It's on my ticket."**

**"Barking," said Uncle Vernon, "howling mad, the lot of them. You'll see. You just wait. All right, we'll take you to King's Cross. We're going up to London tomorrow anyway, or I wouldn't bother."**

"That is not true!" Lily cried out, "Tunie knows that, she went with me every years."

Harry turned to his mother, "Really?" Lily nodded, Harry growled. "That stupid horse!"

**"Why are you going to London?" Harry asked, trying to keep things friendly.**

**"Taking Dudley to the hospital," growled Uncle Vernon. "Got to have that ruddy tail removed before he goes to Smeltings."**

**Harry woke at five o'clock the next morning and was too excited and nervous to go back to sleep. He got up and pulled on his jeans because he didn't want to walk into the station in his wizard's robes - he'd change on the train. He checked his Hogwarts list yet again to make sure he had everything he needed, saw that Hedwig was shut safely in her cage, and then paced the room, waiting for the Dursleys to get up. Two hours later, Harry's huge, heavy trunk had been loaded into the Dursleys' car, Aunt Petunia had talked Dudley into sitting next to Harry, and they had set off.**

**They reached King's Cross at half past ten. Uncle Vernon dumped Harry's trunk onto a cart and wheeled it into the station for him.**

"Constant Vigulance!" Raven, Loki, Alec, Jasper and Harry cried out this time making Moody smiled.

** Harry thought this was strangely kind until Uncle Vernon stopped dead, facing the platforms with a nasty grin on his face.**

"This doesn't end well does it?" Draco asked.

Harry sighed and shook his head, Severus groaned and slammed his head on the table.

**"Well, there you are, boy. Platform nine - platform ten. Your platform should be somewhere in the middle, but they don't seem to have built it yet, do they?" He was quite right, of course. There was a big plastic number nine over one platform and a big plastic number ten over the one next to it, and in the middle, nothing at all. "Have a good term," said Uncle Vernon with an even nastier smile. He left without another word. Harry turned and saw the Dursleys drive away. All three of them were laughing. Harry's mouth went rather dry. What on earth was he going to do? He was starting to attract a lot of funny looks, because of Hedwig. He'd have to ask someone.**

"They left you there?" Luna growled, her voice not it's dreamy normal but one that dripped darkness.

"Luna, It is okay. I get there remember, I promise it is fine." Harry whispered as they students watched Luna in fear, since they had never seen her angry.

**He stopped a passing guard, but didn't dare mention platform nine and three-quarters. The guard had never heard of Hogwarts and when Harry couldn't even tell him what part of the country it was in, he started to get annoyed, as though Harry was being stupid on purpose. Getting desperate, Harry asked for the train that left at eleven o'clock, but the guard said there wasn't one. In the end the guard strode away, muttering about time wasters. Harry was now trying hard not to panic. According to the large clock over the arrivals board, he had ten minutes left to get on the train to Hogwarts and he had no idea how to do it; he was stranded in the middle of a station with a trunk he could hardly lift, a pocket full of wizard money, and a large owl.**

**Hagrid must have forgotten to tell him something you had to do, like tapping the third brick on the left to get into Diagon Alley. He wondered if he should get out his wand and start tapping the ticket inspector's stand between platforms nine and ten.**

**At that moment a group of people passed just behind him and he caught a few words of what they were saying. "- packed with Muggles, of course -"**

"Enter the Weasley!" Draco cried out, making the red heads, minus one, laugh out.

**Harry swung round. The speaker was a plump woman who was talking to four boys, all with flaming red hair. Each of them was pushing a trunk like Harry's in front of him - and they had an owl. Heart hammering, Harry pushed his cart after them. They stopped and so did he, just near enough to hear what they were saying."Now, what's the platform number?" said the boys' mother.**

"Every year, like we forget." Charlie shook his head.

Gideon laughed, "Our fault, one year we ran into the wrong wall, caused a big scene."

Fabian smirked, "Almost missed they train because the muggles kept watching us."

**"Nine and three-quarters!" piped a small girl, also red-headed, who was holding her hand, "Mom, can't I go... "**

"Ginny." Harry whispered.

**"You're not old enough, Ginny, now be quiet. All right, Percy, you go first."**

**What looked like the oldest boy marched toward platforms nine and ten. Harry watched, careful not to blink in case he missed it - but just as the boy reached the dividing barrier between the two platforms, a large crowd of tourists came swarming in front of him and by the time the last backpack had cleared away, the boy had vanished.**

"The moment I knew the twins would be my favorite." Harry smirked, Fred and George smiled and high fived each other.

**"Fred, you next," the plump woman said.**

**"I'm not Fred, I'm George," said the boy. "Honestly, woman, you call yourself our mother? Can't you tell I'm George?"**

Hermione laughed, "That is not George. That is Fred completely."

"How do you know that?" Fred pouted.

George sighed, "Only you, Charlie and Harry can tell us apart right away."

"And Raven." inputed Alex, they all looked to Raven.

"You just act different, if anyone paid attention to you and not just your jokes and pranks, they could tell too." Hermione, Harry and Charlie nodded.

**"Sorry, George, dear."**

**"Only joking, I am Fred," said the boy, and off he went. His twin called after him to hurry up, and he must have done so, because a second later, he had gone - but how had he done it?**

"Brillant, wish I had a twin now." Sirius whispered.

**Now the third brother was walking briskly toward the barrier he was almost there - and then, quite suddenly, he wasn't anywhere. There was nothing else for it.**

**"Excuse me," Harry said to the plump woman.**

**"Hello, dear," she said. "First time at Hogwarts? Ron's new, too." She pointed at the last and youngest of her sons. He was tall, thin, and gangling, with freckles, big hands and feet, and a long nose.**

Draco laughed, "That is how I saw him too."

**"Yes," said Harry. "The thing is - the thing is, I don't know how to -"**

"For the love of Merlin, let him finish talking first!" Jasper growled.

**"How to get onto the platform?" she said kindly, and Harry nodded.**

**"Not to worry," she said. "All you have to do is walk straight at the barrier between platforms nine and ten. Don't stop and don't be scared you'll crash into it, that's very important. Best do it at a bit of a run if you're nervous. Go on, go now before Ron."**

**"Er - okay," said Harry. He pushed his trolley around and stared at the barrier. It looked very solid.**

"It is." Everyone looked at him, "Second Year." Hermione, Neville and the Weasley twins all flinch.

**He started to walk toward it. People jostled him on their way to platforms nine and ten. Harry walked more quickly. He was going to smash right into that barrier and then he'd be in trouble - leaning forward on his cart, he broke into a heavy run - the barrier was coming nearer and nearer he wouldn't be able to stop the cart was out of control he was a foot away he closed his eyes ready for the crash. It didn't come... he kept on running... he opened his eyes. A scarlet steam engine was waiting next to a platform packed with people. A sign overhead said Hogwarts Express, eleven O'clock. Harry looked behind him and saw a wrought-iron archway where the barrier had been, with the words Platform Nine and Three-Quarters on it, He had done it.**

Draco and Blaise stood up and clapped for him, he mock glared at them.

**Smoke from the engine drifted over the heads of the chattering crowd, while cats of every color wound here and there between their legs. Owls hooted to one another in a disgruntled sort of way over the babble and the scraping of heavy trunks.**

**The first few carriages were already packed with students, some hanging out of the window to talk to their families, some fighting over seats. Harry pushed his cart off down the platform in search of an empty seat. He passed a round-faced boy who was saying, "Gran, I've lost my toad again."**

"Neville!" Draco and Harry cried out, Neville laughed.

**"Oh, Neville," he heard the old woman sigh.**

**A boy with dreadlocks was surrounded by a small crowd. "Give us a look, Lee, go on." ****The boy lifted the lid of a box in his arms, and the people around him shrieked and yelled as something inside poked out a long, hairy leg.**

"A spider?" Minerva turned to the Weasley twins, who were suddenly very intrested in the patterns on the ceiling.

**Harry pressed on through the crowd until he found an empty compartment near the end of the train. He put Hedwig inside first and then started to shove and heave his trunk toward the train door. He tried to lift it up the steps but could hardly raise one end and twice he dropped it painfully on his foot.**

"Ouch. I did that too." Hermione whispered, the Twins looked shocked and upset.

**"Want a hand?" It was one of the red-haired twins he'd followed through the barrier.**

"Wait? It that..." Draco started.

"A Weasley twin asking to help?" Neville inputed.

"Run for cover the world is ending." Blaise and Harry finished together, laughing at the blushing twins.

**"Yes, please," Harry panted.**

**"Oy, Fred! C'mere and help!" With the twins' help, Harry's trunk was at last tucked away in a corner of the compartment.**

**"Thanks," said Harry, pushing his sweaty hair out of his eyes.**

**"What's that?" said one of the twins suddenly, pointing at Harry's lightning scar.**

**"Blimey," said the other twin. "Are you**

**"He is," said the first twin. "Aren't you?" he added to Harry.**

**"What?" said Harry.**

"Oh no." Harry groaned, "It begins."

**"Harry Potter, "chorused the twins.**

**"Oh, him," said Harry. "I mean, yes, I am."**

"Oh him?" Draco laughed, "Wow, you really don't want it, do you?"

Harry shook his head, "Not for a second."

**The two boys gawked at him, and Harry felt himself turning red. Then, to his relief, a voice came floating in through the train's open door. "Fred? George? Are you there?"**

**"Coming, Mom." With a last look at Harry, the twins hopped off the train.**

**Harry sat down next to the window where, half hidden, he could watch the red-haired family on the platform and hear what they were saying. Their mother had just taken out her handkerchief.**

"Already Harry..." Snape smirked.

Harry smiled, "It was good practice."

**"Ron, you've got something on your nose."**

**The youngest boy tried to jerk out of the way, but she grabbed him and began rubbing the end of his nose. "Mom - geroff" He wriggled free.**

**"Aaah, has ickle Ronnie got somefink on his nosie?" said one of the twins.**

**"Shut up," said Ron.**

**"Where's Percy?" said their mother.**

**"He's coming now."**

**The oldest boy came striding into sight. He had already changed into his billowing black Hogwarts robes, and Harry noticed a shiny silver badge on his chest with the letter P on it. "Can't stay long, Mother," he said. "I'm up front, the prefects have got two compartments to themselves -"**

"Merlin, I sound like a prat." Percy whispered. The Weasley kids looked at him, nodded then laughed.

Before Percy could responed Harry held up his hands. "Wait, Fred and George are about to do the one thing that gets Mia every time."

At this Fred and George smirk and lend forward to hear, Hermione glares at Harry before turning back to the book.

**"Oh, are you a prefect, Percy?" said one of the twins, with an air of great surprise. "You should have said something, we had no idea."**

**"Hang on, I think I remember him saying something about it," said the other twin. "Once -"**

**"Or twice -"**

**"A minute -"**

**"All summer -"**

Draco laughed, "She can't stay mad at them when they talk like that, she tries but fails. Everytime."

"Shut it Ferret!" Hermione glared at him, "Or I'll tell your secret."

"You wouldn't." Draco paled, "It would get you in trouble too." She graced a smirked worthy of Slytherin, Draco gulped and nodded. "Got it, shutting up."

The students looked between the two and laughed.

**"Oh, shut up," said Percy the Prefect.**

"Percy..."

"the..."

"Perfect. How did we not see it?" the twins cried.

**"How come Percy gets new robes, anyway?" said one of the twins.**

**"Because he's a prefect," said their mother fondly.**

Gideon and Fabian frowned at Molly, "Molls, that isn't fair and you know it. You're making the kids feel like they need to compete with each other to gain your approval and love."

Molly glared at them. "I know how to raise me kids. I will do with as I please."

Alex slammed his hands on the table, "Really? Is that so Molly?" Molly turn away from him, he growled. "Look at me!" he screamed so loud that she gasped and turn to yell at him but stopped when his blue hair turned Weasley red and his brown eyes turned blue like Charlie's, Bill's and both set of twins. "Do I look familar now? Do you recongize me like this? I am not sure since you threw me away when I was three and erased Arthur's memory." Molly stood up to walk away but Arthur grabbed her.

"What is he talking about?" Arthur asked Molly.

"Nothing, he is just throwing a fit." Molly spat.

Alex roared, "You can't even tell him now. Arthur look at me," Arthur turned and watched as Alex walked over to Charlie, pulled him up and stood next to him. Everyone gasped as they say it, Charlie and Alex looked the very same. "I am a Weasley! Charlie is my twin. You are my father and Molly took that from you because she couldn't deal with twins but imagine my surprise when I find out about Fred and George. Tell me did you try to part them too? Did you rip one of them away in the middle of the night, wrap him up so now one would hear his screams for his brother and send away not caring where he ended up?" Alex glared at her. "Did you try and seperate my brothers?! Answer me?"

"Of course I did!" Molly spat. "I didn't want twins, I didn't want anymore boys. I wanted a girl. Just one." Arthur stepped away from his wife, looking at her like she was a monster. Fred and George clung to each other. "You should have stayed away, I never wanted you."

Alex took a step toward her but Charlie held him off, "How could you do this to me? You should know better then anyone that taking one twin away from the other can cause the other to die, to feel lost, to feel like it is never whole or it could drive it insane. Why?"

"Because I am your mother." Molly glared. "And I can do as I please."

"Actually Molly Weasley, you can't." Came Fudge's voice from the side. Two Aurors grabbed Molly and dragged her off. "I guess that is what you called me for Raven."

Everyone turned to Raven, she smiled. "Of course. Sir, Arthur's memories?"

"Will be restored." Fudge stated, "First, I must find them. Arthur, I promise that I will."

Arthur nodded but never took his eyes off Alex, who was staring at his feet. "Sorry, I tried to keep my temper but it was hard."

"Don't be sorry son," Arthur whispered, Alex looked up. "I may not remember you yet but you are my son, Charlie's twin and you have nothing to be sorry for."

"Brother?" Charlie cut in, "My name is Charlie Black Weasley, what is yours?"

Alex smirked, "I am Alexto James Weasley." James laughed, "Arthur.. I mean dad named me James because my godfather was James' father and he wanted us to have that in common."

Raven smiled, "Well, I guess that tells everyone who we are. Let's continue reading, Mia if you would."

Hermione smiled as everyone walked back to their seats. **"All right, dear, well, have a good term - send me an owl when you get there." She kissed Percy on the cheek and he left. Then she turned to the twins. "Now, you two - this year, you behave yourselves. If I get one more owl telling me you've - you've blown up a toilet or -"**

"That's how you to got the idea?" Minerva smiled as she shook her head.

**"Blown up a toilet? We've never blown up a toilet."**

**"Great idea though, thanks, Mom."**

**"It's not funny. And look after Ron."**

**"Don't worry, ickle Ronniekins is safe with us."**

**"Shut up," said Ron again. He was almost as tall as the twins already and his nose was still pink where his mother had rubbed it.**

**"Hey, Mom, guess what? Guess who we just met on the train?" Harry leaned back quickly so they couldn't see him looking. "You know that black-haired boy who was near us in the station? Know who he is?"**

**"Who?"**

**"Harry Potter!"**

**Harry heard the little girl's voice. "Oh, Mom, can I go on the train and see him, Mom, eh please..."**

"Merlin I had forgotten about that." Harry whispered.

"No you didn't, Molly was using a potion on you so that you would want to be with Ginny. Ashes it was never your fault." Raven stated.

"Ashes?" The Marauders, young and old, asked.

Raven groaned, "Sorry Harry."

"It's okay, they should know." Harry smiled, he saw his friends nod. "Everyone Neville, Hermione, Draco, Luna and I are unregister Animagi. I am a Pheonix, called Ashes."

"I am called Ferret, not just because the 'fake' Professor Moody turned no into one but that is my form." Draco smirked.

"I am a Cheetah, they call me Flash." Neville shrugged.

"I am Hops and I am a Hare or Bunny." Luna laughed.

"They call me Redtail because I am a red fox." Hermion smiled but didn't notice the look that the Weasley twins shared.

"Why would you become Animai? It is a dangerous task to do without help." Minerva started.

Severus sighed, "Just because James, Remus and Sirius did it doesn't mean.."

"Wait!" Hermione cut in, "It was my idea, we did it for Blaise. We couldn't leave him alone."

"Alone?" Everyone asked.

Blaise took a deep breath, "Well, why not right? My nickname is Lycos and I have been a werewolf since second year when Greyback bit me." Remus growled "It is okay Remus, I am fine. I have made peace with who and what I am."

Hermione not wanting anyone to start in on Blaise, continued reading. **"You've already seen him, Ginny, and the poor boy isn't something you goggle at in a zoo. Is he really, Fred? How do you know?"**

**"Asked him. Saw his scar. It's really there - like lightning."**

**"Poor dear - no wonder he was alone, I wondered. He was ever so polite when he asked how to get onto the platform."**

**"Never mind that, do you think he remembers what You-Know-Who looks like?"**

**Their mother suddenly became very stern. "I forbid you to ask him, Fred. No, don't you dare. As though he needs reminding of that on his first day at school."**

**"All right, keep your hair on."**

**A whistle sounded. "Hurry up!" their mother said, and the three boys clambered onto the train. They leaned out of the window for her to kiss them good-bye, and their younger sister began to cry.**

**"Don't, Ginny, we'll send you loads of owls."**

**"We'll send you a Hogwarts toilet seat."**

**"George!"**

**"Only joking, Mom."**

**The train began to move. Harry saw the boys' mother waving and their sister, half laughing, half crying, running to keep up with the train until it gathered too much speed, then she fell back and waved. Harry watched the girl and her mother disappear as the train rounded the corner. Houses flashed past the window. Harry felt a great leap of excitement. He didn't know what he was going to but it had to be better than what he was leaving behind. The door of the compartment slid open and the youngest redheaded boy came in.**

**"Anyone sitting there?" he asked, pointing at the seat opposite Harry. "Everywhere else is full." Harry shook his head and the boy sat down. He glanced at Harry and then looked quickly out of the window, pretending he hadn't looked. Harry saw he still had a black mark on his nose.**

**"Hey, Ron." The twins were back.**

**"Listen, we're going down the middle of the train - Lee Jordan's got a giant tarantula down there."**

**"Right," mumbled Ron.**

**"Harry," said the other twin, "did we introduce ourselves? Fred and George Weasley. And this is Ron, our brother. See you later, then.**

**"Bye," said Harry and Ron. The twins slid the compartment door shut behind them.**

**"Are you really Harry Potter?" Ron blurted out. Harry nodded. "Oh -well, I thought it might be one of Fred and George's jokes," said Ron. "And have you really got - you know..."**

**He pointed at Harry's forehead. Harry pulled back his bangs to show the lightning scar. Ron stared. "So that's where You-Know-Who"**

**"Yes," said Harry, "but I can't remember it."**

**"Nothing?" said Ron eagerly.**

**"Well - I remember a lot of green light, but nothing else."**

**"Wow," said Ron. He sat and stared at Harry for a few moments, then, as though he had suddenly realized what he was doing, he looked quickly out of the window again.**

**"Are all your family wizards?" asked Harry, who found Ron just as interesting as Ron found him.**

**"Er - Yes, I think so," said Ron. "I think Mom's got a second cousin who's an accountant, but we never talk about him."**

**"So you must know loads of magic already."**

**The Weasleys were clearly one of those old wizarding families the pale boy in Diagon Alley had talked about.**

"No they aren't but thank Merlin for that." Draco whispered.

**"I heard you went to live with Muggles," said Ron. "What are they like?"**

**"Horrible -well, not all of them. My aunt and uncle and cousin are, though. Wish I'd had three wizard brothers."**

**"Five," said Ron. For some reason, he was looking gloomy. "I'm the sixth in our family to go to Hogwarts. You could say I've got a lot to live up to. Bill and Charlie have already left - Bill was head boy and Charlie was captain of Quidditch. Now Percy's a prefect. Fred and George mess around a lot, but they still get really good marks and everyone thinks they're really funny. Everyone expects me to do as well as the others, but if I do, it's no big deal, because they did it first. You never get anything new, either, with five brothers. I've got Bill's old robes, Charlie's old wand,**

Gideon and Fabian groaned, "That is not good."

** and Percy's old rat."**

Hermione, Harry, Sirius and Remus growled, everyone looked confused, Hermione shook her head. "Peter. Third year. He was there the whole time, he watched us, he watched... Oh no!" Hermione stood up, threw the book down and began to rub her arms.

Harry panicked, "Mia, what's wrong?"

"Peter! I used to yell at Ron to keep his rat out of my bed!" Hermione cried. "Harry, Peter Peddigrew was in my bed! He watched me, touched me, please get it off!" she fell to her knees as she scratched her skin.

Harry, Sirius and Remus ran to her. Ramus grabbed her hands as Sirius lefted her face to his. "Relax, Kitten. We will get it off but you need to calm down okay." Hermione nodded, Harry was pacing beside her. "Severus?"

Severus nodded, walked over to them and lifted her, "Here or the room?"

Hermione shook, "I don't want to be alone."

Severus nodded, he carried her over to the couch. "Lucius move!" Lucius jumped off the couch and sat on the wall. Severus place her down, gave her a potion to drink and used the same spell on her that he had used on Harry. No one moved as a long list appeared beside Severus. he took it, stood and read to himself before he roared and turned to glare at Albus. "You will pay for this." He turned to Hermione. "Mia, you are not muggleborn. You are a prue blood, you were adopted." Hermione gasped. "You are a Zambini."

**Body:**

Busted head from Troll attack

"It hit you? You didn't tell me!" Harry panicked but Sirius held him.

Accident with Polyjuice Potion

Petrefied by Basilisk - healed

Bitten by rat form Peter Peddigrew

Remus growled and Hermione began to cry.

Panick attack after facing Bogget

"Mia, you should have told me." Remus whined.

Rape by ...

Severus growled

Rape by Peter Peddigrew

Sirius and Remus ran to Hermione as she screamed and held her between them. "Shh, Little one. I promise he will pay with his life."

"Relax Kitten, he will never touch you again."

Beaten by Womping Willow

Attacked by Dementors

Broken ribs by running into werewolf Remus Lupin.

"I'm sorry, what?" Remus panicked.

"In third year, don't worry no one got scratched or bitten." Harry whispered as he watched his best friend.

Coma like state under water during second task

Put under the Imperious Curse

Put under the Cruciartus Curse once

"Last year, Ministry of Magic. "Neville spoke before anyone could react.

Put under the Imperious Curse

Severe Night terrors

Severe infection from scars by Dolorus Umbridge

"Scars? How many Scars?" Remus asked. She sniffed and held up five fingers. Remus growled.

**Magic:**

Wandless and Wordless Magic: Fully blocked by Albus Dumbledore

Prue Blood Status: Zambini Fully Blocked by Albus Dumbledore

Glamour Charm: Fully Cumpleted by Albus Dumbledore

Creature Inheritance (Veela): Fully blocked by Albus Dumbledore

Full Soul Bond to Fred and George Weasley: Fully blocked by Albus Dumbledore and Molly Weasley

"What That could kill her? Why would they block that?" Lily shouted.

Hermione stared at Fred and George, who smirked and high fived each other. She blushed and turned her head into Sirius' shoulder. Fred laughed. "All of it can be undone right?"

"Of course, young Weasley. But this will take more then just a spell. Lets finished this chapter and call it a night and I will work on the potion."

Everyone nodded as they made their way back to the table, Hermione picked up the book.

**Ron reached inside his jacket and pulled out a fat gray rat, which was asleep. "His name's Scabbers and he's useless, he hardly ever wakes up. Percy got an owl from my dad for being made a prefect, but they couldn't aff - I mean, I got Scabbers instead." Ron's ears went pink. He seemed to think he'd said too much, because he went back to staring out of the window.**

**Harry didn't think there was anything wrong with not being able to afford an owl. After all, he'd never had any money in his life until a month ago, and he told Ron so, all about having to wear Dudley's old clothes and never getting proper birthday presents. This seemed to cheer Ron up. "... and until Hagrid told me, I didn't know anything about be ing a wizard or about my parents or Voldemort" Ron gasped. "What?" said Harry.**

**"You said You-Know-Who's name!" said Ron, sounding both shocked and impressed. "I'd have thought you, of all people -"**

**"I'm not trying to be brave or anything, saying the name," said Harry, I just never knew you shouldn't. See what I mean? I've got loads to learn... I bet," he added, voicing for the first time something that had been worrying him a lot lately, "I bet I'm the worst in the class."**

**"You won't be. There's loads of people who come from Muggle families and they learn quick enough."**

**While they had been talking, the train had carried them out of London. Now they were speeding past fields full of cows and sheep. They were quiet for a time, watching the fields and lanes flick past. Around half past twelve there was a great clattering outside in the corridor and a smiling, dimpled woman slid back their door and said, "Anything off the cart, dears?"**

**Harry, who hadn't had any breakfast, leapt to his feet, but Ron's ears went pink again and he muttered that he'd brought sandwiches. Harry went out into the corridor. He had never had any money for candy with the Dursleys, and now that he had pockets rattling with gold and silver he was ready to buy as many Mars Bars as he could carry - but the woman didn't have Mars Bars. What she did have were Bettie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, Drooble's Best Blowing Gum, Chocolate Frogs. Pumpkin Pasties, Cauldron Cakes, Licorice Wands, and a number of other strange things Harry had never seen in his life. Not wanting to miss anything, he got some of everything and paid the woman eleven silver Sickles and seven bronze Knuts. Ron stared as Harry brought it all back in to the compartment and tipped it onto an empty seat.**

**"Hungry, are you?"**

**"Starving," said Harry, taking a large bite out of a pumpkin pasty.**

**Ron had taken out a lumpy package and unwrapped it. There were four sandwiches inside. He pulled one of them apart and said, "She always forgets I don't like corned beef."**

**"Swap you for one of these," said Harry, holding up a pasty. "Go on -"**

**"You don't want this, it's all dry," said Ron. "She hasn't got much time," he added quickly, "you know, with five of us."**

**"Go on, have a pasty," said Harry, who had never had anything to share before or, indeed, anyone to share it with. It was a nice feeling, sitting there with Ron, eating their way through all Harry's pasties, cakes, and candies (the sandwiches lay forgotten). "What are these?" Harry asked Ron, holding up a pack of Chocolate Frogs. "They're not really frogs, are they?" He was starting to feel that nothing would surprise him.**

**"No," said Ron. "But see what the card is. I'm missing Agrippa."**

**"What?"**

**"Oh, of course, you wouldn't know - Chocolate Frogs have cards, inside them, you know, to collect - famous witches and wizards. I've got about five hundred, but I haven't got Agrippa or Ptolemy."**

**Harry unwrapped his Chocolate Frog and picked up the card. It showed a man's face. He wore half- moon glasses, had a long, crooked nose, and flowing silver hair, beard, and mustache. Underneath the picture was the name Albus Dumbledore. "So this is Dumbledore!" said Harry.**

**"Don't tell me you'd never heard of Dumbledore!" said Ron. "Can I have a frog? I might get Agrippa - thanks**

**Harry turned over his card and read:**

___**ALBUS DUMBLEDORE**_

___**CURRENTLY HEADMASTER OF HOGWARTS**_

___**Considered by many the greatest wizard of modern times, Dumbledore is particularly famous for his defeat of the dark wizard Grindelwald in 1945, for the discovery of the twelve uses of dragon's blood, and his work on alchemy with his partner, Nicolas Flamel. Professor Dumbledore enjoys chamber music and tenpin bowling.**_

"Still can't believe we didn't remember that." Hermione whispered, Harry and Neville laughed.

**Harry turned the card back over and saw, to his astonishment, that Dumbledore's face had disappeared. "He's gone!"**

**"Well, you can't expect him to hang around all day," said Ron. "He'll be back. No, I've got Morgana again and I've got about six of her... do you want it? You can start collecting." Ron's eyes strayed to the pile of Chocolate Frogs waiting to be unwrapped.**

**"Help yourself," said Harry. "But in, you know, the Muggle world, people just stay put in photos."**

**"Do they? What, they don't move at all?" Ron sounded amazed. "weird!" Harry stared as Dumbledore sidled back into the picture on his card and gave him a small smile. Ron was more interested in eating the frogs than looking at the Famous Witches and Wizards cards, but Harry couldn't keep his eyes off them. Soon he had not only Dumbledore and Morgana, but Hengist of Woodcroft, Alberic Grunnion, Circe, Paracelsus, and Merlin. He finally tore his eyes away from the druidess Cliodna, who was scratching her nose, to open a bag of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans. "You want to be careful with those," Ron warned Harry. "When they say every flavor, they mean every flavor - you know, you get all the ordinary ones like chocolate and peppermint and mar- malade, but then you can get spinach and liver and tripe. George reckons he had a booger- flavored one once." Ron picked up a green bean, looked at it carefully, and bit into a corner. "Bleaaargh - see? Sprouts."**

"I did get a booger flavored one, totally gross." Geogre whispered.

"I can not believe you two became friends over Candy!" Hermione snapped.

"But you know that I love you more, I wouldn't have risked it for him." Harry smiled and she laughed.

**They had a good time eating the Every Flavor Beans. Harry got toast, coconut, baked bean, strawberry, curry, grass, coffee, sardine, and was even brave enough to nibble the end off a funny gray one Ron wouldn't touch, which turned out to be pepper. The countryside now flying past the window was becoming wilder. The neat fields had gone. Now there were woods, twisting rivers, and dark green hills. There was a knock on the door of their compartment and the round-faced boy Harry had passed on platform nine and threequarters came in. He looked tearful. "Sorry," he said, "but have you seen a toad at all?"**

"Stupid Toad." Neville sighed.

**When they shook their heads, he wailed, "I've lost him! He keeps getting away from me!"**

**"He'll turn up," said Harry.**

**"Yes," said the boy miserably. "Well, if you see him..." He left.**

**"Don't know why he's so bothered," said Ron. "If I'd brought a toad I'd lose it as quick as I could. Mind you, I brought Scabbers, so I can't talk." The rat was still snoozing on Ron's lap. "He might have died and you wouldn't know the difference," said Ron in disgust. "I tried to turn him yellow yesterday to make him more interesting, but the spell didn't work. I'll show you, look..." He rummaged around in his trunk and pulled out a very battered-looking wand. It was chipped in places and something white was glinting at the end. "Unicorn hair's nearly poking out. Anyway."**

"That is not safe, someone is going to get hurt." Charlie shook his head, Harry, Hermione and Draco laughed.

**He had just raised his 'wand when the compartment door slid open again. The toadless boy was back, but this time he had a girl with him. She was already wearing her new Hogwarts robes. "Has anyone seen a toad? Neville's lost one," she said. She had a bossy sort of voice, lots of bushy brown hair, and rather large front teeth.**

Hermion turned to glared at Harry, who was staring to his shoes.

**"We've already told him we haven't seen it," said Ron, but the girl wasn't listening, she was looking at the wand in his hand.**

**"Oh, are you doing magic? Let's see it, then." She sat down. Ron looked taken aback.**

**"Er - all right." He cleared his throat. "Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow, Turn this stupid, fat rat yellow." He waved his wand, but nothing happened. Scabbers stayed gray and fast asleep.**

"I still can't believe he fell for that." Fred laughed.

**"Are you sure that's a real spell?" said the girl. "Well, it's not very good, is it? I've tried a few simple spells just for practice and it's all worked for me. Nobody in my family's magic at all, it was ever such a surprise when I got my letter, but I was ever so pleased, of course, I mean, it's the very best school of witchcraft there is, I've heard - I've learned all our course books by heart, of course, I just hope it will be enough - I'm Hermione Granger, by the way, who are you." She said all this very fast.**

"Wow, I am snot." Hermione whispered.

Draco laughed, "Yes but you get better and we love you as you are."

**Harry looked at Ron, and was relieved to see by his stunned face that he hadn't learned all the course books by heart either. "I'm Ron Weasley," Ron muttered.**

**"Harry Potter," said Harry.**

**"Are you really?" said Hermione. "I know all about you, of course - I got a few extra books. for background reading, and you're in Modern Magical History and The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts and Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century."**

"Yeah like that wasn't creepy, Red." Harry laughed, Hermione smirked.

**"Am I?" said Harry, feeling dazed.**

**"Goodness, didn't you know, I'd have found out everything I could if it was me," said Hermione. "Do either of you know what house you'll be in? I've been asking around, and I hope I'm in Gryffindor, it sounds by far the best; I hear Dumbledore himself was in it, but I suppose Ravenclaw wouldn't be too bad... Anyway, we'd better go and look for Neville's toad. You two had better change, you know, I expect we'll be there soon." And she left, taking the toadless boy with her.**

**"Whatever house I'm in, I hope she's not in it," said Ron. He threw his wand back into his trunk. "Stupid spell - George gave it to me, bet he knew it was a dud."**

**"What house are your brothers in?" asked Harry.**

**"Gryffindor," said Ron. Gloom seemed to be settling on him again. "Mom and Dad were in it, too. I don't know what they'll say if I'm not. I don't suppose Ravenclaw would be too bad, but imagine if they put me in Slytherin."**

**"That's the house Vol-, I mean, You-Know-Who was in?"**

**"Yeah," said Ron. He flopped back into his seat, looking depressed.**

**"You know, I think the ends of Scabbers' whiskers are a bit lighter," said Harry, trying to take Ron's mind off houses. "So what do your oldest brothers do now that they've left, anyway?" Harry was wondering what a wizard did once he'd finished school. "Charlie's in Romania studying dragons, and Bill's in Africa doing something for Gringotts," said Ron. "Did you hear about Gringotts? It's been all over the Daily Prophet, but I don't suppose you get that with the Muggles - someone tried to rob a high security vault."**

**Harry stared. "Really? What happened to them?"**

**"Nothing, that's why it's such big news. They haven't been caught. My dad says it must've been a powerful Dark wizard to get round Gringotts, but they don't think they took anything, that's what's odd. 'Course, everyone gets scared when something like this happens in case You-Know-Who's behind it." Harry turned this news over in his mind. He was starting to get a prickle of fear every time You- Know-Who was mentioned. He supposed this was all part of entering the magical world, but it had been a lot more comfortable saying "Voldemort" without worrying. "What's your Quidditch team?" Ron asked.**

**"Er - I don't know any," Harry confessed.**

**"What!" Ron looked dumbfounded. "Oh, you wait, it's the best game in the world -" And he was off, explaining all about the four balls and the positions of the seven players, describing famous games he'd been to with his brothers and the broomstick he'd like to get if he had the money. He was just taking Harry through the finer points of the game when the compartment door slid open yet again, but it wasn't Neville the toadless boy, or Hermione Granger this time.**

**Three boys entered, and Harry recognized the middle one at once: it was the pale boy from Madam Malkin's robe shop. He was looking at Harry with a lot more interest than he'd shown back in Diagon Alley. "Is it true?" he said. "They're saying all down the train that Harry Potter's in this compartment. So it's you, is it?"**

**"Yes," said Harry. He was looking at the other boys. Both of them were thickset and looked extremely mean. Standing on either side of the pale boy, they looked like bodyguards.**

**"Oh, this is Crabbe and this is Goyle," said the pale boy carelessly, noticing where Harry was looking. "And my name's Malfoy, Draco Malfoy."**

"Bond, James Bond." Hermione giggled, Harry and Draco laughed.

"I am glad you guys made me watch that move." Draco laughed.

**Ron gave a slight cough, which might have been hiding a snigget. Draco Malfoy looked at him. "Think my name's funny, do you? No need to ask who you are. My father told me all the Weasleys have red hair, freckles, and more children than they can afford." He turned back to Harry. "You'll soon find out some wizarding families are much better than others, Potter. You don't want to go making friends with the wrong sort. I can help you there." He held out his hand to shake Harry's, but Harry didn't take it.**

"Don't take it, Don't take it..." Draco whispered.

Harry laughed, "Draco your talking about yourself, you where there."

"Oh yeah, forgot." Draco smirked.

**"I think I can tell who the wrong sort are for myself, thanks," he said coolly.**

Draco groaned, "Mr. and Mrs. Potter, what I am about say is no longer what I believe. Please forgive me." James and Lily nodded.

**Draco Malfoy didn't go red, but a pink tinge appeared in his pale cheeks. "I'd be careful if I were you, Potter," he said slowly. "Unless you're a bit politer you'll go the same way as your parents. They didn't know what was good for them, either. You hang around with riffraff like the Weasleys and that Hagrid, and it'll rub off on you."**

**Both Harry and Ron stood up. "Say that again," Ron said, his face as red as his hair.**

**"Oh, you're going to fight us, are you?" Malfoy sneered.**

**"Unless you get out now," said Harry, more bravely than he felt, because Crabbe and Goyle were a lot bigger than him or Ron.**

**"But we don't feet like leaving, do we, boys? We've eaten all our food and you still seem to have some." Goyle reached toward the Chocolate Frogs next to Ron - Ron leapt forward, but before he'd so much as touched Goyle, Goyle let out a horrible yell. Scabbers the rat was hanging off his finger, sharp little teeth sunk deep into Goyle's knuckle - Crabbe and Malfoy backed away as Goyle swung Scabbers round and round, howling, and when Scabbets finally flew off and hit the window, all three of them disappeared at once. Perhaps they thought there were more rats lurking among the sweets, or perhaps they'd heard footsteps, because a second later, Hermione Granger had come in. **

**"What has been going on?" she said, looking at the sweets all over the floor and Ron picking up Scabbers by his tail.**

**"****I think he's been knocked out," Ron said to Harry. He looked closer at Scabbers. "No - I don't believe it - he's gone back to sleep-" And so he had. "You've met Malfoy before?" ****Harry explained about their meeting in Diagon Alley. "I've heard of his family," said Ron darkly. "They were some of the first to come back to our side after You-Know-Who disappeared. Said they'd been bewitched. My dad doesn't believe it. He says Malfoy's father didn't need an excuse to go over to the Dark Side." He turned to Hermione. "Can we help you with something?"**

"And he is right." Draco whispered.

**"You'd better hurry up and put your robes on, I've just been up to the front to ask the conductor, and he says we're nearly there. You haven't been fighting, have you? You'll be in trouble before we even get there!"**

"Good gravy, I can see it now. I sucked. I wouldn't want to be my friend either!" Hermione snapped, Neville, Blaise, Luna, Draco and Harry laughed.

**"Scabbers has been fighting, not us," said Ron, scowling at her. "Would you mind leaving while we change?"**

**"All right - I only came in here because people outside are behaving very childishly, racing up and down the corridors," said Hermione in a sniffy voice. "And you've got dirt on your nose, by the way, did you know?"**

**Ron glared at her as she left. Harry peered out of the window. It was getting dark. He could see mountains and forests under a deep purple sky. The train did seem to be slowing down. He and Ron took off their jackets and pulled on their long black robes. Ron's were a bit short for him, you could see his sneakers underneath them. A voice echoed through the train: "We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes' time. Please leave your luggage on the train, it will be taken to the school separately." Harry's stomach lurched with nerves and Ron, he saw, looked pale under his freckles. They crammed their pockets with the last of the sweets and joined the crowd thronging the corridor. **

**The train slowed right down and finally stopped. People pushed their way toward the door and out on to a tiny, dark platform. Harry shivered in the cold night air. Then a lamp came bobbing over the heads of the students, and Harry heard a familiar voice: "Firs' years! Firs' years over here! All right there, Harry?" Hagrid's big hairy face beamed over the sea of heads.**

**"C'mon, follow me - any more firs' years? Mind yer step, now! Firs' years follow me!" Slipping and stumbling, they followed Hagrid down what seemed to be a steep, narrow path. It was so dark on either side of them that Harry thought there must be thick trees there. Nobody spoke much. Neville, the boy who kept losing his toad, sniffed once or twice. "Ye' all get yer firs' sight o' Hogwarts in a sec," Hagrid called over his shoulder, "jus' round this bend here." There was a loud "Oooooh!"**

**The narrow path had opened suddenly onto the edge of a great black take. Perched atop a high mountain on the other side, its windows sparkling in the starry sky, was a vast castle with many turrets and towers. "No more'n four to a boat!" Hagrid called, pointing to a fleet of little boats sitting in the water by the shore. Harry and Ron were followed into their boat by Neville and Hermione. "Everyone in?" shouted Hagrid, who had a boat to himself. "Right then - FORWARD!" And the fleet of little boats moved off all at once, gliding across the lake, which was as smooth as glass. Everyone was silent, staring up at the great castle overhead. It towered over them as they sailed nearer and nearer to the cliff on which it stood.**

**"Heads down!" yelled Hagrid as the first boats reached the cliff; they all bent their heads and the little boats carried them through a curtain of ivy that hid a wide opening in the cliff face. They were carried along a dark tunnel, which seemed to be taking them right underneath the castle, until they reached a kind of underground harbor, where they clambered out onto rocks and pebbles.**

"See duck your head, James and Padfoot." Moody cried out. The two shrugged and laughed.

"Sorry Moody, we were busy messing with Malfoy that we didn't hear." James offered.

Padfoot smirked, "Besides we didn't mean to take you with us."

**"Oy, you there! Is this your toad?" said Hagrid, who was checking the boats as people climbed out of them.**

**"Trevor!" cried Neville blissfully, holding out his hands. Then they clambered up a passageway in the rock after Hagrid's lamp, coming out at last onto smooth, damp grass right in the shadow of the castle.**

**They walked up a flight of stone steps and crowded around the huge, Oak front door. "Everyone here? You there, still got yer toad?" Hagrid raised a gigantic fist and knocked three times on the castle door.**

Hermione sighed, "Well that's the end. Let's eat and get ready for bed."

Harry, Draco, Blaise, Neville and Luna took Hermione off to the sound proof room to talk, while the Weasley's caught up with the Prewett Twins and Alex. Jasper went with the people from the past and Sirius, Severus and Remus to talked. Loki caught up with Minerva, Moody, Amelia, Narcissa and Tonks. Raven stood back and wished for a window to look out of, moments later one appeared. She walked over and sat down on the ledge to look out at the night sky. She sighed, closed her eyes and breathed in the air. She lend her back against the side of the window so she could see both the room and the outside.

She didn't notice the students returning, the tables appearing and the food showing up thanks to the help of the House elves. She didn't notice everyone turning to look at her, Jasper took a step close to her but Alex stopped him with a shake of his head. They watched her as her eyes rolled back into her head and she arched up in pain. Loki, Jasper and Alex whined as they watched her. She bit her lip to keep from screaming. She shook her head and gripped on the window. After a minute she relaxed and turned to the three boys, Jasper ran to her and pulled her down, Alex pulled a potion from his pocket and made her drink it as Loki stood beside them unclinching her hands. Jasper carried her to the table and sat her down beside them. She placed her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes.

"Come on Ice. You have to eat." Jasper frowned, "Just a little."

"I don't want to..." Raven started but was cut off by Charlie and Sirius' growls, she turned to look at them.

"Please, eat." Charlie whined, Sirius nodded his head. Raven sighed and began to eat slowly. "Thank you."

Severus watched her, "I know what that was. Did he do that to you?" Raven nodded her head. "I can help with that to, I made a potion for Draco last year."

After dinner everyone got ready for bed and sleeping bags and beds appeared in the room. Hermione and Harry laid down by each other, moments later Draco, Blaise, Luna, Neville and the Weasley Twins joined them. They all laid out in a small circle and fell asleep quickly. Severus went of into the sound proof room to work on the potions for both Hermione and Raven while Sev took one of the sleeping bags to the other side of the room and laid down. Regulus, Moony, Padfoot, Frank, Alice and the Prewett twins joined him fell asleep after some apologises from Padfoot and Sev. Alex, Jasper and Loki grabbed three of the beds and moved them in between the groups of teens, they looked at Raven, who nodded then they laid down and fell asleep. James and Lily took two beds and slept to the left of Padfoot and Moony, beside them were Sirius and Remus with an extra bed for Severus, when he came back into the room. Arthur, Bill, Tonks, Moody and Amelia took beds to the other side of the presant day teens and talked for awhile about all the signs they had missed and how to fix them. Dumbledore took a bed to the farthest corner from everyone and laid down, unsure what the next day would bring. Raven sat in the window loking out at the lake as Charlie came over with two beds, put them together and laid down.

"Raven?" she looked at him, he held out his hand and she walked to him. When she laid down beside him, he pulled her close. "You need to sleep. Why don't you tell me something? Anything you want."

She smiled and began to relax, "We met over a Dragon." Charlie chuckled. "It's true. I had ran off from your mother's dinner because she had told everyone that I was just another Deatheater's child. No one would talk to me, look at me. Not even Sirius. I mean he is a Black, the name speaks against him but he didn't care, no one did. So I ran off, while I was running I heard it. I was in my wolf form so it was louder then normal, I followed the sound. It broke my heart. When I came into a clearing, I saw them. The noise was a baby dragon crying, trying to wake up it's mother but it was to late. The mother had died. I began to walk closer but the baby got scared, I remembered that I was still in wolf form, so I shifted back. Slowly I reached the baby, it was so tiny and scared. I knew if I didn't find it some help that it would die. I sent off a letter to the only Dragon reserve I knew, the one in Ireland but they didn't have room so they sent me a letter that someone from Romania would be coming for him. I waited two days before you showed up. I remembered seeing you in pictures at the Burrow, I got nerves that you would treat me like they did but you just smiled, introduced yourself and we took the baby to the reserve. We became frinds fast and your mother hated but you didn't care."

"Of course I didn't." Charlie whispered. "I am a Dragon trainer, first thing you learn about dragons is that they know when someone is trust worthy. If that baby dragon trusted you, so could I. I promise, I will alway trust you and be here when you need me. Now let's get some sleep." Raven smiled at him but nodded, soon both were fast asleep.


	10. Chapter 10 The Sorting Hat

**Chapter 10 - The Sorting Hat**

Everyone woke up the next morning by Raven and Loki fighting. Everyone sat up in their spots and turned to watch the two as Alex and Jasper groaned and stood up to walk over to them.

"You can't just decide something like that Lo." Raven growled. "She asked us not too."

"He has every right to know damn it." Loki shot out. "We are giving him his family, why can't we give him her too?"

Raven screech in frustrating. "We can't do it because, we do not have her permission you idiot!"

"So get. Go ask her, right now." Loki pointed toward the door. "You know where she is, do it!"

"Oh yeah because that will help!" a shoe flew by Loki's head. "Don't be in idiot. What do I say? Hi my name is Raven, you don't know me yet but we meet in about three years. I came back in time to save people from dying, one of them just happens to be the man your really in love with, do you mind if I tell him?! Don't be stupid Loki." Raven growled.

Loki glared at her, "Well maybe if you cared more about saving people instead of not upsetting Sirius, Charlie, and the Potters then maybe we would be having this stupid arg..." Raven roared as she jumped on him. She hit him in the face, he swore and kneed her in the back and pushed her off of him. She turned toward him but Jasper grabbed her as Alex pushed himself in between them.

"Enough!" Alex demanded. "Loki, think about this. Are you doing this cause it is the right thing to do or do you just want to make sure that he stops being a dick to Harry?" Loki glared at him but turned away. Alex turned to Raven. "Calm down, your bleeding. You broke open your stitches, now sit down so we can fix them." Raven growled but stopped struggling, she sat down as Jasper lifted the back of her shirt. Everyone could see the marks up and down her back like she was whipped. One of the scars was bleeding, Jasper went to healing it as Alex turned to Loki. "Why?"

"Cause I feel like we are hiding it. After everything he goes through, after all he loses, gives up just to keep Harry safe. He deserves to be happy." Loki whispered.

Jasper shakes his head. "Loki, he still can be. Think, if we tell him, he wont figure it out himself. We can't do that."

"Besides we have more important things to handle today." Alex growled, "In case you forgot."

All three of them looked at him confused but Raven gasped. She pushed away from Jasper, stood up and walked to Harry. "Harry picture your Aunt's house, now."

Harry frowned but closed his eyes, Loki groaned as he walked over. He pulled out his wand, placed it to Harry's head then spoke softly. "Majera Jecktro." His wand glowed silver before a screen appeared before them, Harry opened his eyes as he heard his Uncle yell his name.

_"Potter? Where is that ungrateful piece of shit?" Vernon yelled out as he stomped through the house._

_ "He spent the holidays at the school." Dudley whispered. "He said so in his letter. Hogwarts, I think."_

_ Petunia gasped as she stepped away from her boy. "Vernon, he said it. He spoke that name."_

_ "How dare you? Speak of those freaks in this house." Vernon roared, "Potter might be beyond help but I wont lose you to those people." He grabbed Vernon by he collar and dragged him out of the house. He pulled him toward the shed ignoring Dudley's crys._

_ "I didn't mean too, I promise. I'm sorry." Dudley cried. _

_ Vernon opened the shed door, dragged him inside, shut the door then locked it behind them. He pulled Dudley down the stairs and threw him to the floor, "I'll treat you like I do Potter. See if you can handle being a freak like he has too." Vernon began to get undressed._

Raven growled, pulled out her wand and disappeared without a word. Jasper groaned, "Bloody Hell!"

Loki sighed, "Found her." He pointed to the scene.

_Raven appeared behind Vernon and knocked him out, Dudley stared at her and began to panic. She sighed, pulled him to his feet and pulled him back into the house were Petunia sat shocked. She saw Raven and gasped, "You! You swore that you wouldn't come back, that you would leave us alone."_

_ Raven growled, "You are right Tunnie, I did. I promised that if you took care of my nephew Harry that I would leave you alone, never come back. But you didn't take care of him, you beat him. You starved him, treated him like trash and made him believe that he wasn't an amazing young man. You let your over grown disgusting husband rape him." Petunia gasped, Raven smirked. "Just as your husband was about to do to you darling Dudley. Did you know that is what Vernon does to anyone he takes to that shed. You had to know. That is why Dudley's friends stopped coming by. You just sat here, you were going to let it happen."_

_ Petunia began to cry, "What do I do? I can't leave him. The last time I tried, he found me getting off at the bus near Lily's house. I tried to get to her, she stilled loved me but I blew it. He threatened to kill Lily and her husband then when they were dead, he threatened Harry. I had to pretend that I hated him so that Vernon would never know how much I loved him and would die for him. I tried to stop Vernon, I try to convince Harry never to come back here, I can't fight him. No one will help me."_

_ Dudley growled, "That is not true. Harry would help us." Petunia laughed but Dudley shook his head. "Yeah we treated him like shit, you told me too. He was the little brother I always wanted but you told me that I had too. It doesn't matter, Harry will always be Harry. Even if he hates us, he will help us and protect us because we are his family. That is just the person he is, the person I could never be." Dudley turned to Raven. "You are his aunt?"_

_ Raven smiled, "Yes. His father, James Potter, is my brother."_

_ "Take him away from here. He thinks that I can't hear him at night but I can. He cries for them, his parents and people named Remus and Sirius. He also doesn't know that I know he tried to kill himself last summer. He found mother's pills and took the whole bottle. I found him on the bathroom floor. I made him throw it up, washed his face and put him in his bed. He thought it was a dream." Dudley looked down at his hands. "Don't let him come back here alone. Keep him safe."_

_ Raven smiled, "Dud?" Dudley looked up. "I know what I am going to say makes no sense what so ever but remember, I am a witch. I know things. You are a brave young man and if your mother doesn't leave you father soon, you will die. It will be okay to leave. Your life is more important then your reputation." she hugged Dudley and turned to Petunia. "If you need help, just call my name." Raven disappeared as Dudley ran up to his room and pack his clothes. Soon Petunia and Dudley packed into the car and drove away from Privet Drive._

Raven appeared beside Loki and laughed, "Told you she loved him. You owe me."

Loki laughed. "Crazy."

"I know." Raven kissed his cheek and turned to Harry. "How do you feel?"

"She loved me?" Harry whispered, "After it all, she still loved me and all those words, talks and hatred was to protect me? And Dudley? How am I suppose to take that? Vernon almost... just because he said Hogwarts. If you hadn't... Wait you were there before?"

Raven sighed, "You were six. You were hanging out with this young boy with blonde hair. You were laughing, I thought you were happy. I was wrong, I didn't know the truth until you sent us back in time. You pulled me aside and told me the truth, made me promise somethings and then disappeared before I could say anything."

"His name was Rodger, he moved away when I was ten. I had snuck out of the house that day, they were at family function for Vernon's work." Harry smirked. "I had the best day of my life, it was worth the pain I got when they got home." Harry shrugged his shoulders at the growls. "I was use to it by then, now we have a book to read, let's get to it."

"Let's sit down then." Hermione spoke as the room changed and seats would appear. Everyone sat down in there spots from the day before and the book landed in front of Lily. She sighed softly and opened the book.

She smiled softly. **"The Sorting Hat."**

"Oh god no!" Harry groaned.

"Harry?" Hermione whispered.

He looked at her. "Gryffindor wasn't the hats first chose."

**The door swung open at once. A tall, black-haired witch in emerald-green robes stood there. She had a very stern face and Harry's first thought was that this was not someone to cross.**

"Well at least someone saw it." McGonagall whispered, the Marauders smirked.

"You know that you love us." Remus smirked as the younger Marauders laughed.

**"The firs' years, Professor McGonagall," said Hagrid.**

**"Thank you, Hagrid. I will take them from here." She pulled the door wide. The entrance hall was so big you could have fit the whole of the Dursleys' house in it. The stone walls were lit with flaming torches like the ones at Gringotts, the ceiling was too high to make out, and a magnificent marble staircase facing them led to the upper floors. They followed Professor McGonagall across the flagged stone floor. Harry could hear the drone of hundreds of voices from a doorway to the right -the rest of the school must already be here - but Professor McGonagall showed the first years into a small, empty chamber off the hall. They crowded in, standing rather closer together than they would usually have done, peering about nervously.**

**"Welcome to Hogwarts," said Professor McGonagall. "The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory, and spend free time in your house common room. The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each house has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your house points, while any rule breaking will lose house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup, a great honor. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours. The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting." Her eyes lingered for a moment on Neville's cloak, which was fastened under his left ear, and on Ron's smudged nose. Harry nervously tried to flatten his hair.**

"Reminded me of your father." Minerva whispered.

**"I shall return when we are ready for you," said Professor McGonagall. "Please wait quietly."**

**She left the chamber. Harry swallowed. "How exactly do they sort us into houses?" he asked Ron.**

**"Some sort of test, I think. Fred said it hurts a lot, but I think he was joking." Harry's heart gave a horrible jolt. A test? In front of the whole school? But he didn't know any magic yet - what on earth would he have to do? He hadn't expected something like this the moment they arrived. He looked around anxiously and saw that everyone else looked terrified, too. No one was talking much except Hermione Granger, who was whispering very fast about all the spells she'd learned and wondering which one she'd need. Harry tried hard not to listen to her. He'd never been more nervous, never, not even when he'd had to take a school report home to the Dursleys saying that he'd somehow turned his teacher's wig blue. He kept his eyes fixed on the door. Any second now, Professor McGonagall would come back and lead him to his doom. Then something happened that made him jump about a foot in the air - several people behind him screamed.**

**"What the -?"**

**He gasped. So did the people around him. About twenty ghosts had just streamed through the back wall. Pearly-white and slightly transparent, they glided across the room talking to one another and hardly glancing at the first years. They seemed to be arguing. What looked like a fat little monk was saying: "Forgive and forget, I say, we ought to give him a second chance -"**

**"My dear Friar, haven't we given Peeves all the chances he deserves? He gives us all a bad name and you know, he's not really even a ghost - I say, what are you all doing here?" A ghost wearing a ruff and tights had suddenly noticed the first years. Nobody answered.**

**"New students!" said the Fat Friar, smiling around at them. "About to be Sorted, I suppose?" A few people nodded mutely. "Hope to see you in Hufflepuff!" said the Friar. "My old house, you know."**

**"Move along now," said a sharp voice. "The Sorting Ceremony's about to start." Professor McGonagall had returned. One by one, the ghosts floated away through the opposite wall. "Now, form a line," Professor McGonagall told the first years, "and follow me."**

**Feeling oddly as though his legs had turned to lead, Harry got into line behind a boy with sandy hair, with Ron behind him, and they walked out of the chamber, back across the hall, and through a pair of double doors into the Great Hall. Harry had never even imagined such a strange and splendid place. It was lit by thousands and thousands of candles that were floating in midair over four long tables, where the rest of the students were sitting. These tables were laid with glittering golden plates and goblets. At the top of the hall was another long table where the teachers were sitting. Professor McGonagall led the first years up here, so that they came to a halt in a line facing the other students, with the teachers behind them. The hundreds of faces staring at them looked like pale lanterns in the flickering candlelight. Dotted here and there among the students, the ghosts shone misty silver. Mainly to avoid all the staring eyes, Harry looked upward and saw a velvety black ceiling dotted with stars. He heard Hermione whisper, "Its bewitched to look like the sky outside. I read about it in Hogwarts, A History."**

**It was hard to believe there was a ceiling there at all, and that the Great Hall didn't simply open on to the heavens. Harry quickly looked down again as Professor McGonagall silently placed a four-legged stool in front of the first years. On top of the stool she put a pointed wizard's hat. This hat was patched and frayed and extremely dirty. Aunt Petunia wouldn't have let it in the house. Maybe they had to try and get a rabbit out of it, Harry thought wildly, that seemed the sort of thing - noticing that everyone in the hall was now staring at the hat, he stared at it, too. For a few seconds, there was complete silence. Then the hat twitched. A rip near the brim opened wide like a mouth - and the hat began to sing:**

_**"Oh, you may not think I'm pretty,**_

_**But don't judge on what you see,**_

_**I'll eat myself if you can find**_

_**A smarter hat than me.**_

_**You can keep your bowlers black,**_

_**Your top hats sleek and tall,**_

_**For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat**_

_**And I can cap them all.**_

_**There's nothing hidden in your head**_

_**The Sorting Hat can't see,**_

_**So try me on and I will tell you**_

_**Where you ought to be.**_

_**You might belong in Gryffindor,**_

_**Where dwell the brave at heart,**_

_**Their daring, nerve, and chivalry Set Gryffindors apart;**_

_**You might belong in Hufflepuff,**_

_**Where they are just and loyal,**_

_**Those patient Hufflepuffis are true And unafraid of toil;**_

_**Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,**_

_**if you've a ready mind,**_

_**Where those of wit and learning,**_

_**Will always find their kind;**_

_**Or perhaps in Slytherin**_

_**You'll make your real friends,**_

_**Those cunning folk use any means**_

_**To achieve their ends.**_

_**So put me on! Don't be afraid!**_

_**And don't get in a flap!**_

_**You're in safe hands (though I have none)**_

_**For I'm a Thinking Cap!"**_

**The whole hall burst into applause as the hat finished its song. It bowed to each of the four tables and then became quite still again.**

**"So we've just got to try on the hat!" Ron whispered to Harry. "I'll kill Fred, he was going on about wrestling a troll."**

**Harry. smiled weakly. Yes, trying on the hat was a lot better than having to do a spell, but he did wish they could have tried it on without everyone watching. The hat seemed to be asking rather a lot; Harry didn't feel brave or quick-witted or any of it at the moment. If only the hat had mentioned a house for people who felt a bit queasy, that would have been the one for him.**

**Professor McGonagall now stepped forward holding a long roll of parchment. "When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted," she said. "Abbott, Hannah!"A pink-faced girl with blonde pigtails stumbled out of line, put on the hat, which fell right down over her eyes, and sat down. A moments pause - "HUFFLEPUFF!" shouted the hat.**

**The table on the right cheered and clapped as Hannah went to sit down at the Hufflepuff table. Harry saw the ghost of the Fat Friar waving merrily at her. "Bones, Susan!"**

**"HUFFLEPUFF!" shouted the hat again, and Susan scuttled off to sit next to Hannah.**

**"Boot, Terry!"**

**"RAVENCLAW!" The table second from the left clapped this time; several Ravenclaws stood up to shake hands with Terry as he joined them.**

**" Brocklehurst, Mandy" went to Ravenclaw too, but "Brown, Lavender" became the first new Gryffindor, and the table on the far left exploded with cheers; Harry could see Ron's twin brothers catcalling. "Bulstrode, Millicent" then became a Slytherin. Perhaps it was Harry's imagination, after all he'd heard about Slytherin, but he thought they looked like an unpleasant lot. He was starting to feel definitely sick now. He remembered being picked for teams during gym at his old school. He had always been last to be chosen, not because he was no good, but because no one wanted Dudley to think they liked him. "Finch-Fletchley, Justin!"**

**"HUFFLEPUFF!"**

**Sometimes, Harry noticed, the hat shouted out the house at once, but at others it took a little while to decide. "Finnigan, Seamus," the sandy-haired boy next to Harry in the line, sat on the stool for almost a whole minute before the hat declared him a Gryffindor. "Granger, Hermione!"**

"Aw, red it's you!" Draco smiled.

**Hermione almost ran to the stool and jammed the hat eagerly on her head.**

"You saw that?" she glared at Harry.

**"GRYFFINDOR!" shouted the hat. Ron groaned.**

"Screw you to Ron." Hermione whispered.

**A horrible thought struck Harry, as horrible thoughts always do when you're very nervous. What if he wasn't chosen at all? What if he just sat there with the hat over his eyes for ages, until Professor McGonagall jerked it off his head and said there had obviously been a mistake and he'd better get back on the train? When Neville Longbottom, the boy who kept losing his toad, was called, he fell over on his way to the stool. The hat took a long time to decide with Neville. When it finally shouted, "GRYFFINDOR," Neville ran off still wearing it, and had to jog back amid gales of laughter to give it to "MacDougal, Morag." Malfoy swaggered forward when his name was called and got his wish at once: the hat had barely touched his head when it screamed, "SLYTHERIN!"**

"Prat." Malfoy whispered.

"Dra? You are talking about yourself again." Harry whispered.

"I know and I'm a prat." Draco smirked but duck when Hermione threw a pillow at him.

**Malfoy went to join his friends Crabbe and Goyle, looking pleased with himself. There weren't many people left now. "Moon" "Nott" "Parkinson" then a pair of twin girls, "Patil" and "Patil" then "Perks, Sally-Anne" and then, at last - "Potter, Harry!"**

Harry groaned and covered his face.

**As Harry stepped forward, whispers suddenly broke out like little hissing fires all over the hall.**

**"Potter, did she say?"**

**The Harry Potter?"**

"Yeah cause that is what I wanted to hear." Harry spat.

**The last thing Harry saw before the hat dropped over his eyes was the hall full of people craning to get a good look at him. Next second he was looking at the black inside of the hat. He waited. **_**"Hmm,"**_** said a small voice in his ear. **_**"Difficult. Very difficult. Plenty of courage, I see. Not a bad mind either. There's talent, A my goodness, yes - and a nice thirst to prove yourself, now that's interesting... So where shall I put you?"**_

**Harry gripped the edges of the stool and thought, **_**Not Slytherin, not Slytherin**_**.**

_**"Not Slytherin, eh?"**_** said the small voice. **_**"Are you sure? You could be great, you know, it's all here in your head, and Slytherin will help you on the way to greatness, no doubt about that - no? **_

"It wanted to put you in Slytherin?!" Hermione shouted. Draco stood up and backed up.

"Are you kidding me?" Draco shouted. "You could have been in my HOUSE!? We could have been friends before this? All these years hating each other... They could have been avoided?!"

"God Damn it. Stupid Hagrid and Ronald." Hermione growled. Harry stared at her. "What? You know you wouldn't have changed, then Draco would have been changed sooner. I wouldn't have to deal with Ron being an ass or Draco calling me mud blood."

"It might have helped if I hadn't been a prat." Draco pointed out. "Now lets sit down and listen to the story."

** Well, if you're sure - better be GRYFFINDOR!" Harry heard the hat shout the last word to the whole hall. He took off the hat and walked shakily toward the Gryffindor table. He was so relieved to have been chosen and not put in Slytherin, he hardly noticed that he was getting the loudest cheer yet. Percy the Prefect got up and shook his hand vigorously, while the Weasley twins yelled, "We got Potter! We got Potter!"**

"Best part of the day." Draco, Blaise and Harry laughed. The Weasley twins smirked, stood up and repeated the action.

** Harry sat down opposite the ghost in the ruff he'd seen earlier. The ghost patted his arm, giving Harry the sudden, horrible feeling he'd just plunged it into a bucket of ice-cold water. He could see the High Table properly now. At the end nearest him sat Hagrid, who caught his eye and gave him the thumbs up. Harry grinned back. And there, in the center of the High Table, in a large gold chair, sat Albus Dumbledore. Harry recognized him at once from the card he'd gotten out of the Chocolate Frog on the train. Dumbledore's silver hair was the only thing in the whole hall that shone as brightly as the ghosts. Harry spotted Professor Quirtell, too, the nervous young man from the Leaky Cauldron. He was looking very peculiar in a large purple turban. And now there were only three people left to be sorted. "Thomas, Dean," a Black boy even taller than Ron, joined Harry at the Gryffindor table. "Turpin, Lisa," became a Ravenclaw and then it was Ron's turn. He was pale green by now. Harry crossed his fingers under the table and a second later the hat had shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!" Harry clapped loudly with the rest as Ron collapsed into the chair next to him.**

**"Well done, Ron, excellent," said Percy Weasley Pompously across Harry as "Zabini, Blaise,"**

"Lycos!" Hermione and Draco shouted. Blaise laughed and shook his head.

** was made a Slytherin. Professor McGonagall rolled up her scroll and took the Sorting Hat away. Harry looked down at his empty gold plate. He had only just realized how hungry he was. The pumpkin pasties seemed ages ago. Albus Dumbledore had gotten to his feet. He was beaming at the students, his arms opened wide, as if nothing could have pleased him more than to see them all there. "Welcome," he said. "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! Thank you!" He sat back down. Everybody clapped and cheered. Harry didn't know whether to laugh or not.**

**"Is he - a bit mad?" he asked Percy uncertainly.**

"YES!" Harry, Hermione, Luna and Neville shouted. Everyone laughed at them.

**"Mad?" said Percy airily. "He's a genius! Best wizard in the world! But he is a bit mad, yes. Potatoes, Harry?"**

**Harry's mouth fell open. The dishes in front of him were now piled with food. He had never seen so many things he liked to eat on one table: roast beef, roast chicken, pork chops and lamb chops, sausages, bacon and steak, boiled potatoes, roast potatoes, fries, Yorkshire pudding, peas, carrots, gravy, ketchup, and, for some strange reason, peppermint humbugs. The Dursleys had never exactly starved Harry, but he'd never been allowed to eat as much as he liked. Dudley had always taken anything that Harry really wanted, even if It made him sick. Harry piled his plate with a bit of everything except the peppermints and began to eat. It was all delicious.**

**"That does look good," said the ghost in the ruff sadly, watching Harry cut up his steak,**

**"Can't you -?"**

**"****I haven't eaten for nearly four hundred years," said the ghost. "I don't need to, of course, but one does miss it. I don't think I've introduced myself? Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington at your service. Resident ghost of Gryffindor Tower."**

**"I know who you are!" said Ron suddenly. "My brothers told me about you - you're Nearly Headless Nick!"**

"Dumb ass." Neville spat. Hermione laughed.

**"I would prefer you to call me Sir Nicholas de Mimsy -" the ghost began stiffly, but sandy-haired Seamus Finnigan interrupted.**

**"Nearly Headless? How can you be nearly headless?"**

**Sir Nicholas looked extremely miffed, as if their little chat wasn't going at all the way he wanted. "Like this," he said irritably. He seized his left ear and pulled. His whole head swung off his neck and fell onto his shoulder as if it was on a hinge. Someone had obviously tried to behead him, but not done it properly. Looking pleased at the stunned looks on their faces, Nearly Headless Nick flipped his head back onto his neck, coughed, and said, "So - new Gryffindors! I hope you're going to help us win the house championship this year? Gryffindors have never gone so long without winning. Slytherins have got the cup six years in a row! The Bloody Baron's becoming almost unbearable - he's the Slytherin ghost."**

**Harry looked over at the Slytherin table and saw a horrible ghost sitting there, with blank staring eyes, a gaunt face, and robes stained with silver blood. He was right next to Malfoy who, Harry was pleased to see, didn't look too pleased with the seating arrangements.**

"Thanks Ashes." Draco smirked.

"My pleasure, Ferret." Harry laughed.

**"How did he get covered in blood?" asked Seamus with great interest.**

**"I've never asked," said Nearly Headless Nick delicately.**

"And he will never tell you." the Marauders pointed out only to groan when they saw the smiles on the teens faces. "You know?"

"Yep." Hermione popped the 'p' then smirked.

**When everyone had eaten as much as they could, the remains of the food faded from the plates, leaving them sparkling clean as before. A moment later the desserts appeared. Blocks of ice cream in every flavor you could think of, apple pies, treacle tarts, chocolate eclairs and jam doughnuts, trifle, strawberries, Jell-O, rice pudding. As Harry helped himself to a treacle tart, the talk turned to their families.**

**"I'm half-and-half," said Seamus. "Me dad's a Muggle. Mom didn't tell him she was a witch 'til after they were married. Bit of a nasty shock for him." The others laughed.**

"Not funny." Hermione snapped.

**"What about you, Neville?" said Ron.**

**"Well, my gran brought me up and she's a witch," said Neville, "but the family thought I was all- Muggle for ages. My Great Uncle Algie kept trying to catch me off my guard and force some magic out of me - he pushed me off the end of Blackpool pier once, I nearly drowned - but nothing happened until I was eight. Great Uncle Algie came round for dinner, and he was hanging me out of an upstairs window by the ankles when my Great Auntie Enid offered him a meringue and he accidentally let go. But I bounced - all the way down the garden and into the road. They were all really pleased, Gran was crying, she was so happy. And you should have seen their faces when I got in here - they thought I might not be magic enough to come, you see. Great Uncle Algie was so pleased he bought me my toad."**

"Not cool." Luna whispered and Alice and Frank hugged Neville.

**On Harry's other side, Percy Weasley and Hermione were talking about lessons. "I do hope they start right away, there's so much to learn, I'm particularly interested in Transfiguration, you know, turning something into something else, of course, it's supposed to be very difficult..." **

** "You'll be starting small, just matches into needles and that sort of thing..."**

**Harry, who was starting to feel warm and sleepy, looked up at the High Table again. Hagrid was drinking deeply from his goblet. Professor McGonagall was talking to Professor Dumbledore. Professor Quirrell, in his absurd turban, was talking to a teacher with greasy black hair, a hooked nose, and sallow skin.**

"Nice vision Potter." Snape shook his head. "I guess if I saw me like that, I would hate me too."

**It happened very suddenly. The hook-nosed teacher looked past Quirrell's turban straight into Harry's eyes - and a sharp, hot pain shot across the scar on Harry's forehead. **

"What?" Snape and James shouted.

"What happened? Did I do it?" Severus demanded.

"Profes... Severus relax. It wasn't you. It will be explained later." Harry answered.

**"Ouch!" Harry clapped a hand to his head.**

**"What is it?" asked Percy.**

**"N-nothing."**

"You really need to learn how to lie, Potter." Percy pointed out, all the Weasley boys turned to stare at him.

Raven laughed, "You would know all about lying, wouldn't you Percy."

Percy gasped and stared at her, "You know?"

"Yes, relax. I wont tell and I still love you. No matter what." Raven promised him.

**The pain had gone as quickly as it had come. Harder to shake off was the feeling Harry had gotten from the teacher's look - a feeling that he didn't like Harry at all. "Who's that teacher talking to Professor Quirrell?" he asked Percy.**

**"Oh, you know Quirrell already, do you? No wonder he's looking so nervous, that's Professor Snape. He teaches Potions, but he doesn't want to - everyone knows he's after Quirrell's job. Knows an awful lot about the Dark Arts, Snape." Harry watched Snape for a while, but Snape didn't look at him again.**

**At last, the desserts too disappeared, and Professor Dumbledore got to his feet again. The hall fell silent. "Ahern - just a few more words now that we are all fed and watered. I have a few start-of-term notices to give you. First years should note that the forest on the grounds is forbidden to all pupils. And a few of our older students would do well to remember that as well." Dumbledore's twinkling eyes flashed in the direction of the Weasley twins. "I have also been asked by Mr. Filch, the caretaker, to remind you all that no magic should be used between classes in the corridors. Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of the term. Anyone interested in playing for their house teams should contact Madam Hooch. And finally, I must tell you that this year, the third-floor corridor on the right-hand side is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a very painful death."**

**Harry laughed, but he was one of the few who did. "He's not serious?" he muttered to Percy.**

**"Must be," said Percy, frowning at Dumbledore. "It's odd, because he usually gives us a reason why we're not allowed to go somewhere - the forest's full of dangerous beasts, everyone knows that. I do think he might have told us prefects, at least."**

**"And now, before we go to bed, let us sing the school song!" cried Dumbledore. Harry noticed that the other teachers' smiles had become rather fixed. Dumbledore gave his wand a little flick, as if he was trying to get a fly off the end, and a long golden ribbon flew out of it, which rose high above the tables and twisted itself, snakelike, into words. "Everyone pick their favorite tune," said Dumbledore, "and off we go!" And the school bellowed:**

_**"Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy Warty Hogwarts,**_

_**Teach us something please,**_

_**Whether we be old and bald**_

_**Or young with scabby knees,**_

_**Our heads could do with filling**_

_**With some interesting stuff,**_

_**For now they're bare and full of air,**_

_**Dead flies and bits of fluff,**_

_**So teach us things worth knowing,**_

_**Bring back what we've forgot,**_

_**just do your best, we'll do the rest,**_

_**And learn until our brains all rot.**_

**Everybody finished the song at different times. At last, only the Weasley twins were left singing along to a very slow funeral march. Dumbledore conducted their last few lines with his wand and when they had finished, he was one of those who clapped loudest.**

"Cause that is how it should go." Fred smirked.

George laughed, "Right Mia love?" Hermione blushed but shook her head.

**"Ah, music," he said, wiping his eyes. "A magic beyond all we do here! And now, bedtime. Off you trot!"**

**The Gryffindor first years followed Percy through the chattering crowds, out of the Great Hall, and up the marble staircase. Harry's legs were like lead again, but only because he was so tired and full of food. He was too sleepy even to be surprised that the people in the portraits along the corridors whispered and pointed as they passed, or that twice Percy led them through doorways hidden behind sliding panels and hanging tapestries. They climbed more staircases, yawning and dragging their feet, and Harry was just wondering how much farther they had to go when they came to a sudden halt. A bundle of walking sticks was floating in midair ahead of them, and as Percy took a step toward them they started throwing themselves at him.**

**"Peeves," Percy whispered to the first years. "A poltergeist." He raised his voice, "Peeves - show yourself" A loud, rude sound, like the air being let out of a balloon, answered. "Do you want me to go to the Bloody Baron?"**

"To soon mate." Sirius pointed out, Percy smirked.

"I know. I wanted to see what he had planned for the firsties."

"You are our brother!" Fred and George cried out as they hugged him between them.

**There was a pop, and a little man with wicked, dark eyes and a wide mouth appeared, floating cross- legged in the air, clutching the walking sticks. "Oooooooh!" he said, with an evil cackle. "Ickle Firsties! What fun!"**

**He swooped suddenly at them. They all ducked. "Go away, Peeves, or the Baron'll hear about this, I mean it!" barked Percy. Peeves stuck out his tongue and vanished, dropping the walking sticks on Neville's head. They heard him zooming away, rattling coats of armor as he passed. "You want to watch out for Peeves," said Percy, as they set off again. "The Bloody Baron's the only one who can control him, he won't even listen to us prefects. Here we are."**

**At the very end of the corridor hung a portrait of a very fat woman in a pink silk dress. "Password?" she said. **

**"Caput Draconis," said Percy, and the portrait swung forward to reveal a round hole in the wall. They all scrambled through it - Neville needed a leg up - and found themselves in the Gryffindor common room, a cozy, round room full of squashy armchairs. Percy directed the girls through one door to their dormitory and the boys through another. At the top of a spiral staircase - they were obviously in one of the towers - they found their beds at last: five four-posters hung with deep red, velvet curtains. Their trunks had already been brought up. Too tired to talk much, they pulled on their pajamas and fell into bed.**

**" Great food, isn't it?" Ron muttered to Harry through the hangings. "Get off, Scabbers! He's chewing my sheets."**

"Stupid Rat." Harry growled.

**Harry was going to ask Ron if he'd had any of the treacle tart, but he fell asleep almost at once. Perhaps Harry had eaten a bit too much, because he had a very strange dream. He was wearing Professor Quirrell's turban, which kept talking to him, telling him he must transfer to Slytherin at once, because it was his destiny. Harry told the turban he didn't want to be in Slytherin; it got heavier and heavier; he tried to pull it off but it tightened painfully - and there was Malfoy, laughing at him as he struggled with it -then Malfoy turned into the hook-nosed teacher, Snape, whose laugh became high and cold - there was a burst of green light and Harry woke, sweating and shaking. He rolled over and fell asleep again, and when he woke next day, he didn't remember the dream at all.**

"Well that would have been helpful to remember!" Harry shouted. "Why couldn't I remember that?"

Hermione stared at the book. "Harry, you can remember what my size is but you couldn't remember a dream that clearly showed Quirrell as the bad guy instead of SNAPE!"

Harry gulped as he back up from the table. "Mia? Redtail? I promise if I had known..."

"Shut up Potter." Hermione snapped, Harry sighed and looked down at his hands. She got up from the table. "All those detentions and points we could have avoided if we had been watching Quirrell instead Snape. Who in case you didn't notice hated the both of us!" Hermione growled and began to pace. "Oh that is so annoying." Harry nodded, stood up, walked over to her and pulled her in to a hug. She sighed and relaxed. "Sorry for calling you Potter."

"Sorry for pissing you off." he whispered and brought her back over to the table. Harry turned to James. "It's your turn and I am pretty sure the next chapter is about Snape so enjoy."

James took the book and sighed. "Severus," Snape looked at James, "We are going to get in trouble this chapter. It is titled **The Potion Master.**"

Severus groaned. "Crap."


	11. Chapter 11 The Potions Master

_**MutantNinjaMikey: Sorry it took so long for this chapter! I have been busy but don't worry I haven't forgotten. I will get it done even if...**_

_**Sirius: Even if we have to chain her to the desk and force her... then after we will let her write the story.**_

_**Remus: Padfoot, knock it off. Don't threaten her with a good time.  
**_

_**MutantNinjaMikey: Guys, Guys Relax. I'll get it done.**_

* * *

**Chapter 11 The Potions Master**

James sighed and looked down at the book. "**THE POTIONS MASTER."**

**"There, look."**

**"Where?"**

**"Next to the tall kid with the red hair."**

"Wow, Ron must have loved that." Fred growled.

**"Wearing the glasses?"**

**"Did you see his face?"**

**"Did you see his scar?"**

"Stupid Scar." Harry whispered, Hermione slapped her hand over her mouth to cover the giggle but Harry heard her. He mocked glared at her.

**Whispers followed Harry from the moment he left his dormitory the next day. People lining up outside classrooms stood on tiptoe to get a look at him, or doubled back to pass him in the corridors again, staring. Harry wished they wouldn't, because he was trying to concentrate on finding his way to classes. There were a hundred and forty-two staircases**

"You counted?!" Sirius and Hermione asked him, turned to look at each other then broke out laughing.

**at Hogwarts: wide, sweeping ones; narrow, rickety ones; some that led somewhere different on a Friday; some with a vanishing step halfway up that you had to remember to jump. Then there were doors that wouldn't open unless you asked politely, or tickled them in exactly the right place, and doors that weren't really doors at all, but solid walls just pretending. It was also very hard to remember where anything was, because it all seemed to move around a lot. The people in the portraits kept going to visit each other, and Harry was sure the coats of armor could walk.**

"They can." Harry, Hermione and Neville sighed.

**The ghosts didn't help, either. It was always a nasty shock when one of them glided suddenly through a door you were trying to open. Nearly Headless Nick was always happy to point new Gryffindors in the right direction, but Peeves the Poltergeist was worth two locked doors and a trick staircase if you met him when you were late for class. He would drop wastepaper baskets on your head, pull rugs from under your feet, pelt you with bits of chalk, or sneak up behind you, invisible, grab your nose, and screech, "GOT YOUR CONK!"**

Lily glared at Sirius, who held his hands up. "I didn't teach him that."

"Then were did he learn it?" she glared.

"I taught him." Severus stated, Lily turned and gasped at him, he shrugged. "Sirius' one thing was I could never leave a mark at Hogwarts so I taught Peeves some treats." he smirked and Sirius laughed.

**Even worse than Peeves, if that was possible, was the caretaker, Argus Filch. Harry and Ron managed to get on the wrong side of him on their very first morning. Filch found them trying to force their way through a door that unluckily turned out to be the entrance to the out-of-bounds corridor on the third floor. He wouldn't believe they were lost, was sure they were trying to break into it on purpose, and was threatening to lock them in the dungeons when they were rescued by Professor Quirrell, who was passing. Filch owned a cat called Mrs. Norris, a scrawny, dust-colored creature with bulging, lamp like eyes just like Filch's. She patrolled the corridors alone. Break a rule in front of her, put just one toe out of line, and she'd whisk off for Filch, who'd appear, wheezing, two seconds later. Filch knew the secret passageways of the school better than anyone (except perhaps the Weasley twins) and could pop up as suddenly as any of the ghosts. The students all hated him, and it was the dearest ambition of many to give Mrs. Norris a good kick. And then, once you had managed to find them, there were the classes themselves. There was a lot more to magic, as Harry quickly found out, than waving your wand and saying a few funny words. They had to study the night skies through their telescopes every Wednesday at midnight and learn the names of different stars and the movements of the planets. Three times a week they went out to the greenhouses behind the castle to study Herbology, with a dumpy little witch called Professor Sprout, where they learned how to take care of all the strange plants and fungi, and found out what they were used for. Easily the most boring class was History of Magic, which was the only one taught by a ghost. Professor Binns had been very old indeed when he had fallen asleep in front of the staff room fire and got up next morning to teach, leaving his body behind him. Binns droned on and on while they scribbled down names and dates, and got Emetic the Evil and Uric the Oddball mixed up.**

"Well that hasn't changed." Regulus whispered.

**Professor Flitwick, the Charms teacher, was a tiny little wizard who had to stand on a pile of books to see over his desk. At the start of their first class he took the roll call, and when he reached Harry's name he gave an excited squeak and toppled out of sight.**

"It was so funny." Harry laughed.

**Professor McGonagall was again different. Harry had been quite right to think she wasn't a teacher to cross. Strict and clever, she gave them a talking-to the moment they sat down in her first class.**

"Thank you Potter." Minerva smiled softly.

"No problem, wish I could have listen to my words though but hey someone had to save the school." Harry shrugged his shoulders, causing Minerva and Severus to groan.

**"Transfiguration is some of the most complex and dangerous magic you will learn at Hogwarts," she said. "Anyone messing around in my class will leave and not come back. You have been warned." Then she changed her desk into a pig and back again. They were all very impressed and couldn't wait to get started, but soon realized they weren't going to be changing the furniture into animals for a long time. After taking a lot of complicated notes, they were each given a match and started trying to turn it into a needle. By the end of the lesson, only Hermione Granger had made any difference to her match; Professor McGonagall showed the class how it had gone all silver and pointy and gave Hermione a rare smile.**

**The class everyone had really been looking forward to was Defense Against the Dark Arts, but Quirrell's lessons turned out to be a bit of a joke. His classroom smelled strongly of garlic, which everyone said was to ward off a vampire he'd met in Romania and was afraid would be coming back to get him one of these days. His turban, he told them, had been given to him by an African prince as a thank-you for getting rid of a troublesome zombie, but they weren't sure they believed this story. For one thing, when Seamus Finnigan asked eagerly to hear how Quirrell had fought off the zombie, Quirrell went pink and started talking about the weather; for another, they had noticed that a funny smell hung around the turban, and the Weasley twins insisted that it was stuffed full of garlic as well, so that Quirrell was protected wherever he went. Harry was very relieved to find out that he wasn't miles behind everyone else. Lots of people had come from Muggle families and, like him, hadn't had any idea that they were witches and wizards. There was so much to learn that even people like Ron didn't have much of a head start. Friday was an important day for Harry and Ron. They finally managed to find their way down to the Great Hall for breakfast without getting lost once.**

Fred and George stood up and applauded Harry. "Congrats, mate."

**"What have we got today?" Harry asked Ron as he poured sugar on his porridge.**

**"Double Potions with the Slytherins," said Ron. "Snape's Head of Slytherin House. They say he always favors them - we'll be able to see if it's true."**

Severus groaned. "You have to give me a whole chapter to be an ass."

"Sorry, Severus." Harry whispered.

"It is okay, I deserve it." Severus pinched his nose to wait for what he knew was coming.

**"Wish McGonagall favored us, " said Harry. Professor McGonagall was head of Gryffindor House, but it hadn't stopped her from giving them a huge pile of homework the day before. ****Just then, the mail arrived. Harry had gotten used to this by now, but it had given him a bit of a shock on the first morning, when about a hundred owls had suddenly streamed into the Great Hall during breakfast, circling the tables until they saw their owners, and dropping letters and packages onto their laps. Hedwig hadn't brought Harry anything so far. She sometimes flew in to nibble his ear and have a bit of toast before going off to sleep in the owlery with the other school owls. This morning, however, she fluttered down between the marmalade and the sugar bowl and dropped a note onto Harry's plate. Harry tore it open at once. It said, in a very untidy scrawl:**

_**Dear Harry,**_

_**I know you get Friday afternoons off, so would you like to come and have a cup of tea with me around three?**_

_**I want to hear all about your first week. Send us an answer back with Hedwig.**_

_**Hagrid**_

**Harry borrowed Ron's quill, scribbled **_**Yes, please, see you later **_**on the back of the note, and sent Hedwig off again. It was lucky that Harry had tea with Hagrid to look forward to, because the Potions lesson turned out to be the worst thing that had happened to him so far. At the start-of-term banquet, Harry had gotten the idea that Professor Snape disliked him. By the end of the first Potions lesson, he knew he'd been wrong. **

Lily smiled but Severus shook his head. "Wait for it Lil." Lily frowned.

**Snape didn't dislike Harry - he hated him.**

Lily frowned, "Severus what did you do?"

"Make him look stupid." Severus groaned.

Raven growled as she stared at Severus, "We are having a talk after this chapter." Severus nodded.

**Potions lessons took place down in one of the dungeons. It was colder here than up in the main castle, and would have been quite creepy enough without the pickled animals floating in glass jars all around the walls. Snape, like Flitwick, started the class by taking the roll call, and like Flitwick, he paused at Harry's name. "Ah, Yes," he said softly, "Harry Potter. Our new - celebrity."**

"Who was your old one?" Hermione asked, turning to Snape. He smirked at her and shook his head.

**Draco Malfoy and his friends Crabbe and Goyle sniggered behind their hands. Snape finished calling the names and looked up at the class. His eyes were black like Hagrid's, but they had none of Hagrid's warmth. They were cold and empty and made you think of dark tunnels.**

**"You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion making," he began. He spoke in barely more than a whisper, but they caught every word - like Professor McGonagall, Snape had y caught every word - like Professor McGonagall, Snape had the gift of keeping a class silent without effort. "As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses... I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death - if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach."**

"Dunderheads? Really?" Sev asked his future self.

**More silence followed this little speech. Harry and Ron exchanged looks with raised eyebrows. Hermione Granger was on the edge of her seat and looked desperate to start proving that she wasn't a dunderhead.**

Hermione smacked Harry, "Ow, what I am sorry. Merlin women, go bug your soul mates!"

Fred and George smirked as she blushed and ducked her head.

**"Potter!" said Snape suddenly. "What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"**

"Really Severus? No first year knows that!" Regulus shouted, Hermione cleared her throat as everyone from that class pointed at her. "Wow, you're one bright witch."

**Powdered root of what to an infusion of what? Harry glanced at Ron, who looked as stumped as he was; Hermione's hand had shot into the air. "I don't know, sit," said Harry.**

**Snape's lips curled into a sneer.**

**"Tut, tut - fame clearly isn't everything."He ignored Hermione's hand.**

"Like always!" Hermione pointed out, "I wonder if I wear green if you will pick me?"

"Wear green and we will find out dear Granger." Severus stated.

Hermione glared at him, then smirked. "Fine I will."

**"Let's try again. Potter, where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?"**

**Hermione stretched her hand as high into the air as it would go without her leaving her seat, but Harry didn't have the faintest idea what a bezoar was. He tried not to look at Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle, who were shaking with laughter.**

**"I don't know, sit." **

** "Thought you wouldn't open a book before coming, eh, Potter?" Harry forced himself to keep looking straight into those cold eyes. He had looked through his books at the Dursleys', but did Snape expect him to remember everything in One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi?**

Harry sighed, "It isn't in there."

**Snape was still ignoring Hermione's quivering hand. "What is the difference, Potter, between monkshood and wolfsbane?"**

Harry and Blaise sighed, "Same thing."

**At this, Hermione stood up, her hand stretching toward the dungeon ceiling. "I don't know," said Harry quietly. "I think Hermione does, though, why don't you try her?"**

James sighed, "Oh Harry, bad move. Just piss him off at her too."

"We know." Hermione and Neville groaned.

**A few people laughed; Harry caught Seamus's eye, and Seamus winked. Snape, however, was not pleased. "Sit down," he snapped at Hermione. "For your information, Potter, asphodel and wormwood make a sleeping potion so powerful it is known as the Draught of Living Death. A bezoar is a stone taken from the stomach of a goat and it will save you from most poisons. As for monkshood and wolfsbane, they are the same plant, which also goes by the name of aconite. Well? Why aren't you all copying that down?"**

"I just want to point out, Snape." Hermione stated, "That maybe if you were such a grumpy, unlikeable, arrogant Bloody asshole Students would pay attention in your class. Your students would have better grades and maybe, just maybe you might get considered for the DADA professor. JUST A THOUGHT!" Hermione glared at him, he was shocked by her attitude but nodded.

**There was a sudden rummaging for quills and parchment. Over the noise, Snape said, "And a point will be taken from Gryffindor House for your cheek, Potter."**

"Can't believe that the man that hated me just took away one point, best point taken all year." Harry groaned as Hermione and Neville both dropped their heads on the table and whispered, _"stupid Hagrid." _and _"Stupid Gryffindor bravery."_

**Things didn't improve for the Gryffindors as the Potions lesson continued. Snape put them all into pairs and set them to mixing up a simple potion to cure boils. He swept around in his long black cloak, watching them weigh dried nettles and crush snake fangs, criticizing almost everyone except Malfoy, whom he seemed to like. He was just telling everyone to look at the perfect way Malfoy had stewed his horned slugs when clouds of acid green smoke and a loud hissing filled the dungeon. Neville had somehow managed to melt Seamus's cauldron into a twisted blob, and their potion was seeping across the stone floor, burning holes in people's shoes. Within seconds, the whole class was standing on their stools while Neville, who had been drenched in the potion when the cauldron collapsed, moaned in pain as angry red boils sprang up all over his arms and legs. "Idiot boy!" snarled Snape, clearing the spilled potion away with one wave of his wand. "I suppose you added the porcupine quills before taking the cauldron off the fire?"**

"Yeah cause that helped the matter!" Draco growled.

"I know Draco." Severus sighed.

"Don't worry I do worse." Neville laughed softly.

**Neville whimpered as boils started to pop up all over his nose. "Take him up to the hospital wing," Snape spat at Seamus. Then he rounded on Harry and Ron, who had been working next to Neville. "You - Potter - why didn't you tell him not to add the quills? Thought he'd make you look good if he got it wrong, did you? That's another point you've lost for Gryffindor."**

"Severus!" Lily shouted, "My son didn't have anything to do with what Neville did! Maybe if you had paying more attention to your students you could have stopped it."

"Mom relax." Harry placed his hand on her shoulder.

**This was so unfair that Harry opened his mouth to argue, but Ron kicked him behind their cauldron. "Don't push it," he muttered, "I've heard Snape can turn very nasty." As they climbed the steps out of the dungeon an hour later, Harry's mind was racing and his spirits were low. He'd lost two points for Gryffindor in his very first week - why did Snape hate him so much? "Cheer up," said Ron, "Snape's always taking points off Fred and George. Can I come and meet Hagrid with you?"**

**At five to three they left the castle and made their way across the grounds. Hagrid lived in a small wooden house on the edge of the forbidden forest. A crossbow and a pair of galoshes were outside the front door. When Harry knocked they heard a frantic scrabbling from inside and several booming barks. Then Hagrid's voice rang out, saying, "Back, Fang - back." Hagrid's big, hairy face appeared in the crack as he pulled the door open. "Hang on," he said. "Back, Fang." He let them in, struggling to keep a hold on the collar of an enormous black boarhound. There was only one room inside. Hams and pheasants were hanging from the ceiling, a copper kettle was boiling on the open fire, and in the corner stood a massive bed with a patchwork quilt over it. "Make yerselves at home," said Hagrid, letting go of Fang, who bounded straight at Ron and started licking his ears. Like Hagrid, Fang was clearly not as fierce as he looked.**

**"This is Ron," Harry told Hagrid, who was pouring boiling water into a large teapot and putting rock cakes onto a plate.**

**"Another Weasley, eh?" said Hagrid, glancing at Ron's freckles. I spent half me life chasin' yer twin brothers away from the forest." The rock cakes were shapeless lumps with raisins that almost broke their teeth, but Harry and Ron pretended to be enjoying them as they told Hagrid all about their first -lessons. Fang rested his head on Harry's knee and drooled all over his robes. Harry and Ron were delighted to hear Hagrid call Fitch "that old git." "An' as fer that cat, Mrs. Norris, I'd like ter introduce her to Fang sometime. D'yeh know, every time I go up ter the school, she follows me everywhere? Can't get rid of her - Fitch puts her up to it." **

**Harry told Hagrid about Snape's lesson. Hagrid, like Ron, told Harry not to worry about it, that Snape liked hardly any of the students. "But he seemed to really hate me."**

"That was my fault son." James stated.

**"Rubbish!" said Hagrid. "Why should he?" Yet Harry couldn't help thinking that Hagrid didn't quite meet his eyes when he said that.**

"That's because he did." Severus stated. "Everyone of the teachers knew of my hatred for your father and betrayal of Lily. Hagrid tried to be friendly toward me but I wouldn't let him." Severus sighed.

"He will forgive you, Snape." Harry stated, Severus looked confused. "You pushed him away because you thought you needed to but Hagrid really is one of the greatest people ever and he does know who to secrets if they are important enough." Harry glared at Hermione, "Just ask Red."

"Oh relax Harry." Hermione sighed, "I told you when I am ready to tell you, I will. Hagrid just knows how serious it is."

**"How's yer brother Charlie?" Hagrid asked Ron. "I liked him a lot - great with animals." Harry wondered if Hagrid had changed the subject on purpose. While Ron told Hagrid all about Charlie's work with dragons, Harry picked up a piece of paper that was lying on the table under the tea cozy. It was a cutting from the Daily Prophet:**

James stopped as he read the next line. "Harry, didn't Hagrid take you to Gringotts that day in the Alley?"

Yep." Harry smirked, Hermione groaned.

"Just read on Prongs." she whispered, he smiled at his nickname but nodded.

_**GRINGOTTS BREAK-IN LATEST**_

_**Investigations continue into the break-in at Gringotts on 31 July, widely believed to be the work of Dark wizards or witches unknown. Gringotts goblins today insisted that nothing had been taken. The vault that was searched had in fact been emptied the same day. "But we're not telling you what was in there, so keep your noses out if you know what's good for you," said a Gringotts spokesgoblin this afternoon.**_

**Harry remembered Ron telling him on the train that someone had tried to rob Gringotts, but Ron hadn't mentioned the date. "Hagrid!" said Harry, "that Gringotts break-in happened on my birthday! It might've been happening while we were there!"**

Snape laughed, "So this is how it started, a newspaper?"

**There was no doubt about it, Hagrid definitely didn't meet Harry's eyes this time. He grunted and offered him another rock cake. Harry read the story again. The vault that was searched had in fact been emptied earlier that same day. Hagrid had emptied vault seven hundred and thirteen, if you could call it emptying, taking out that grubby little package. Had that been what the thieves were looking for? As Harry and Ron walked back to the castle for dinner, their pockets weighed down with rock cakes they'd been too polite to refuse, Harry thought that none of the lessons he'd had so far had given him as much to think about as tea with Hagrid. Had Hagrid collected that package just in time? Where was it now? And did Hagrid know something about Snape that he didn't want to tell Harry?**

"And begins the Harry Potter investigation!" Nevile, Hermione and Draco cry out.

"That is the chapter." James set down the book. He turned to both Severus'. "I am sorry, this war we have is stupid and I can't remember way it stared but it was most likely my fault."

"Don't Potter, I am at fault too." Severus interrupted. "I couldn't let her go."

Raven stood up, walked over to Severus. She grabbed his shoulder and tugged gently. He sighed, got up from the table and followed her over to the couch where Lucius sat writing in a notebook that the room had given him. They sat down, and as if they didn't know everyone was watching them, they began to talk. "Severus, look I know that I have no idea what went on but honestly, do you love Lily or just the idea of her?"

Severus laughed softly, "The Idea. She was my first friend, the light in my childhood of darkness. I clung to her, even though I knew that I didn't really love her. I just couldn't let her go. No one has ever cared about me the way she has."

"Are you so sure about that?" Raven asked, Severus looked confused. "Think back to when you first came here to teach, when you lost Lily. Who was there? Not Dumbledore, not Minerva. Who? You are very smart man, please don't live in the past when someone wants to be your future."

Severus sat there staring at her, he opened his mouth but couldn't speak. He got up from the couch and walked away from the wall. He closed his eyes and thought of everyone he knew, of all those years ago and only one person came to mind. He snapped his head back to her, "It isn't possible. I burned that bridge along time ago."

"Says who?" Raven countered. She smiled as he sunk to the floor, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

"She has changed, she has become heartless." Severus sighed. "She attacks innocent people, look at what she did to Hermione in fourth year."

"Yes well, you did break her heart. She just needs to remember herself. She needs to be your little bug again." Raven sighed.

Hermione gasped. "Bug? Fourth year? Snape, her? You love her! and didn't tell her! You are an idiot!"

Snape laughed, "I know, let's go see her, Raven." Raven smiled, walked over to him, held out his hand and with that they were gone.


End file.
